


Seven Years Shattered

by Signel_chan



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Advocates for Children, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Luck, Child Loss, Developing Friendships, F/M, Heartbreak, Heavy Drinking, Heavy symbolism, Hospitals, Jealousy, Lawyers, Legal issues, Married Life, One-Sided Custody Battle, References to Abuse, Separations, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-04-22 16:55:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 201,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14313114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signel_chan/pseuds/Signel_chan
Summary: Whether or not luck and superstition are real, one thing's for certain: a broken mirror is never a good thing. What a shame that the person responsible for it breaking is firmly in the "they aren't real" camp, because those seven years of bad luck are about to change her life.





	1. The Broken Mirror

Every time Maribelle had set foot in that dressing room that day, she had been incredibly mindful of the oversized mirror that took up half of one of the walls. She’d admired herself in it over and over again, making sure that her hair was perfectly in place, that her dress was positioned exactly how it was meant to be, that her makeup hadn’t smudged, and so on. It was where she and everyone in her wedding party had taken countless selfies as they were getting ready, and it was where they had put the finishing touches on their attire before considering themselves as good as ready.

So how was it, after a day of using the mirror like it was intended, all she had to do was step foot in the room for it to hit the ground and shatter, sending glass flying everywhere, into her belongings as well as the last few things the other ladies had left in there. “Oh…that’s not good,” she managed to say, examining the damage as she hiked the front part of her perfectly white dress up, making sure she didn’t rip a single inch of the fabric with the glass that was now scattered all over the floor. “It must have come loose somehow during the day, but for it to fall now of all times…”

“Was that the mirror?” Coming in behind her immediately after the loud crashing sound had stopped ringing in Maribelle’s ears, Lissa gasped when she saw the now-empty spot on the wall. “Gods, it was! Maribelle! That’s bad luck, you know that right?”

“I’m aware of it, although I don’t believe a word of that ‘luck’ nonsense. We get what we deserve in life, and no objects can control that. Especially not a broken mirror.” Looking down at the largest piece of the mirror that hadn’t shattered, Maribelle could see her reflection staring back at her, her heavily-painted face looking like a runway model or perhaps for a costume, but definitely not for the average person getting married. “Besides, if we’re going to speak of ‘luck’, then I think today would be considered my luckiest day alive anyway, any mirrors be damned!”

Wringing her hands in front of her, Lissa came to Maribelle’s side and looked down in the very same mirror piece, looking worried as she did. “I don’t know, this is a pretty big piece you just managed to break into nothing, it might mean something in the long run. Wish I knew how long people say you get bad luck for breaking one of these things…”

“There is no such thing as luck regarding mirrors, Lissa my dear! Stop worrying about something that has no consequence minus a cost to replace it.” Laughing, Maribelle turned to face her much more modest-looking friend, who gave her a wary smile in return. “You’re getting worked up over something that we’ll forget in a week’s time. Especially given that I’ll be having the time of my life for this next week, on what will undoubtedly be the single best honeymoon anyone could ever ask for!”

Lissa’s smile grew to be more warm and accepting, her feeling her friend’s excitement taking over her. “You’re right, what am I thinking? We’re not going to remember that you broke a mirror, not when you come home and tell me all about the fun and adventure the two of you’ll be going on!” The hand-wringing turned to a happy clapping. “And if all goes well, maybe this time next month…”

“Oh, Lissa, don’t be so over-eager! I don’t think we’ll be getting to _that_ right away.” Gently poking her friend’s nose as if to scold her for her suggestion, Maribelle burst out laughing once more when she saw Lissa go cross-eyed at the gesture. “Besides, I’ll be starting my new job in the fall and I simply cannot have gotten hired in such a prestigious position only to have to cast it aside to raise a family. The time’ll come for that soon enough, I’m sure, but not quite yet. We can most definitely wait a few months.”

“A few months?” As she was righting her eyes from being crossed, Lissa couldn’t help but snort at Maribelle’s insistence that she had that kind of self-control. “I’ve seen how you act, you’re going to get to where you’re staying and promptly bed that man so fast that he won’t have time to prepare.”

Sputtering as she tried to come up with some witty comeback to what Lissa had just said, Maribelle gave up and went back to looking at the shattered mirror on the floor. “Whatever he and I do tonight, and over the course of the next week, is merely our own business. And I can assure you that we will absolutely not be conceiving any sort of child while we’re gone, it’s not in either of our plans at the moment.” Her reflection showed that she was standing firm in her believe on the matter, plump lips pursed together seriously and bright eyes narrowing when she heard Lissa clear her throat to speak.

“Okay, I know you want to believe it won’t happen, but you love him so much that the moment you’re alone together you’re going to, well, make love to him!” Giggling, Lissa narrowly avoided being smacked by Maribelle as she dropped the front of her dress simply to reach up and hit her friend, and she avoided this by stepping to the side. “Hey, don’t try hitting me! I’m just saying the truth!”

As Maribelle tried following her to smack her anyway, she managed to step on a piece of the mirror that tore through her shoe and cut into the bottom of her foot, causing her to yelp in pain and nearly fall over, only managing to stay standing because Lissa was right there to catch her. “Look what you’ve made me do,” she whined, holding her foot up due to being unsure of where the shard was that had cut her. “My shoe’s forever damaged and my foot’s surely bleeding!”

“You’re being overdramatic again, Maribelle,” Lissa told her, before bending down to investigate for herself. When she saw a small red discoloration starting to spread through the bottom of the shoe, she grimaced and stood back up, now frowning at Maribelle. “Or maybe you’re not, it does look like you cut yourself up a bit. But good news, doesn’t look like anything’s still stuck in there, so maybe we can clean it up really quickly and—“

“What are the two ‘a ya still doin’ in here, we were supposed t’have cleared outta this place half an hour ago!” The voice at the door nearly sent Maribelle toppling over again as she spun to look at who had come to join them, but once more it was Lissa there to keep her from falling. The man standing there, a suit cover draped over one shoulder and a bag held on his other arm, took one look at the women and gave a defeated sigh. “Lemme guess, someone got a bit excited t’be lookin’ at herself as an officially married woman, didn’t she?”

“The mirror broke when I came in here, it wasn’t anything to do with me looking at myself in it!” Sounding a bit panicked as she was still holding her injured foot up off the ground as well as looking at the man in the doorway, Maribelle tried to force a smile onto her face but couldn’t muster the strength to do so. “But you’re right, we should have been out of here a while ago, and this mess isn’t going to make leaving any easier.”

As she bent down to try picking up a shard of the mirror, to at least make a halfhearted attempt to start cleaning up the area, Lissa stopped her, keeping her from bending too far. “I can’t let my best friend have to organize a disaster zone on her wedding day, not when she’s already got big plans for the evening. You go on and get to where you’re going, I’ll handle the mess on my own.” She didn’t sound enthusiastic about what she was suggesting, but she was doing it from the kindness off her heart, something that Maribelle couldn’t help but appreciate. “Here, you know what, I’ll even see you two off with the rest of everyone before I get to work.”

“Everyone’s still here?” Maribelle asked, surprised to hear such a thing, especially given how long after the ceremony and reception it now was. In disbelief, she looked towards her husband, who was giving her a concerned expression in return. “So answer me on this, Vaike, they’ve been waiting around for what must feel like hours, just to bid us farewell?”

“More like, they want t’see the two ‘a us gettin' outta here for the week, since we’ve been, y’know, botherin’ them daily about this ever since ya had the idea for it. Which was…er, how long ago was that?” Awkwardly raising one of his arms to scratch at his head while he thought on the answer to his own question, the suit cover slipped right off of Vaike’s shoulder and hit the floor, which made him laugh. “Doesn’t matter, really, now that we’ve gotten this over and done with. We’ve just gotta get out and let them do what they all are wantin’ to do for us.”

“Yes, and that means you two need to get moving!” With a hop and a skip, Lissa managed to dodge all the pieces of mirror as she went to the doorway, effortlessly bending down to pick up what had been dropped and taking it into her own arms, only for him to drop his bag right away and for her to pick that up as well. “Why are you even carrying this around with you like this? You’re not planning on taking the suit with you, are you?”

“Of course he is, we’re not changing until we’re comfortably far away from this place,” Maribelle answered, carefully joining the two at the doorway, her foot aching when she put weight down on it but she was trying her best to ignore it. “If we weren’t planning on walking out of here looking just as nice as we did during the ceremony, do you really think we would have stayed dressed up this long?”

Lissa puckered her mouth as she tried coming up with a counterpoint, but ultimately shrugged it off. “I guess not, even though I’m sure getting you out of that dress would be impossible with how much you love yourself in it.”

“I wouldn’t have let her spend as much as she did on that if she wasn’t wearin’ it all day,” Vaike said, his eyes glancing all over Maribelle’s body, in specific the parts covered by her lovely dress. “Even though I shouldn’t have had any say in any ‘a that nonsense.”

Waggling a finger in his face, Maribelle leaned closer into him, just close enough that her finger ended up brushing against his nose a time or two. “So we might have chosen to run this wedding less traditionally than most, what of it? I wasn’t going to keep you in the dark on everything, even if everyone expected me to.”

“Uh, you two, you know you’re supposed to be leaving, right?” Lissa reminded them, as she started heading towards the hallway that would lead the three of them to the front door to the church they’d been using for the wedding. Vaike and Maribelle exchanged a glance between them as they saw Lissa head away that was followed immediately by a quick kiss, that being followed by him scooping her up despite her demanding he didn’t, for him to start running after their friend with Maribelle in his arms.

Standing outside the front doors of the church, as had already been determined, were the attendees of the wedding, all cheering and excited to see the newlyweds one last time before they were off onto their honeymoon. It wasn’t as great of an experience being flocked by everyone while in someone else’s arms as Maribelle had hoped it would be, as it made her feel like she was useless, being toted around by someone rather than supporting herself, but the moment someone brushed against her foot and it started throbbing she was grateful that she’d managed to marry a guy who’d help her out like this without her needing to ask. No one even seemed to notice that she was injured while she was being carried, even though her feet were exposed due to how her dress was hanging off her legs, which was a lucky feat.

Luck. The thought of luck made her chuckle to herself, a sound lost in the roar of the happy crowd they were in. How was Lissa going to tell her that her breaking that mirror was going to cause her bad luck, when luck was something that was self-made and not controlled by any outside forces? Superstitions were fun to believe in, but at the end of the day they were nothing more than made-up explanations for things that had perfectly reasonable answers. Her stepping on the shard was just a circumstance of her being so dressed up, it had nothing to do with any sort of actual thing called “luck”.

She didn’t bring attention to any of that until after they were past the goodbyes and the well-wishes from everyone that had stuck around, and after both of them were given the belongings they’d packed for their trip (Lissa had ended up having to run back into the church to grab one bag, because she’d already picked up the other), they were on their way out of town for what would amount to close to a week alone together to revel in their newlywed status. “Remember what I said to you,” Lissa whispered to Maribelle as she was handing her the bag of her clothes, “this time next month, something’s going to happen, we both know it. Don’t stop it if it’s happening, please. I have to see what a baby between you two looks like before we’re all old and gray.”

“Hush now, Lissa, I promise that we’re not going to get into that for quite a few months, as I told _you_ earlier.” They gave friendly cheek-kisses as their farewells, as Lissa was the last person there who they intended on having see them before they left, and as she waved them goodbye they started to head out. “I…cannot believe that girl sometimes,” she said as she sank back into the seat in the car they were being driven away in, her head resting on Vaike’s shoulder as he started playing with her hair. “She’s had the audacity to imply we’re going to do some very personal things while we’re away, and she wants details on them!”

“Well, we are gonna do that stuff, ain’t we?” Vaike asked, pulling his fingers away from one of Maribelle’s carefully-placed ringlet curls so that she could turn her head to glare at him. “I mean, probably not in the ways she’s thinkin’ of, but y’know what I mean, right?”

Pursing her lips together as she came up with the best way to word her current thought, Maribelle replied, “Er, yes, well, the fact that you know what way she’s thinking of bothers me more than I think you understand. Was she discussing this with you as well?”

“She wasn’t, but d’ya know how many times someone’s come up t’me in the past week askin’ me about how it feels knowin’ that once we’re on this trip, we can do whatever we want and not be looked down on for the consequences?” Vaike grinned, before looking at how Maribelle didn’t seem impressed with what he was saying, so he explained himself with, “It’s been many times, and I haveta keep tellin’ ‘em that we ain’t doin’ anythin’ we wouldn’t have done before this!”

“You…told everyone…hm.” If her lips could have gotten pressed into a straighter line they most certainly would have with that revelation. “Vaike, dearest, did you ever once stop to think that perhaps leaving things to people’s imaginations would be a good thing? You didn’t need to divulge all of our personal lives to get them off your backs.”

“It wasn’t everythin’, don’t worry. Just the stuff they all already kinda knew.” This defense didn’t seem to be impressing Maribelle much either, which made him shift a bit away from her in case she was to lash out at any given point. “All I’m sayin’ is, I might’ve told ‘em we’re plannin’ on keepin’ things exactly as they’ve already been, ‘cause it ain’t like today’s the day we actually got married or anythin’ like that.”

She lifted her head completely off his shoulder to turn to look out the window rather than at him, not wanting to face him for what he’d just admitted to. “I hope you’re aware that no one was supposed to actually know this ceremony was all for show, in case they want to get upset with us that we made them all contribute to paying for it. As far as they all were to know, this was the real deal, not just a cover to, ahem, get to go through with a big fairytale wedding for the both of us.”

As she waited for his response, Maribelle found herself watching cars pass them by, speeding down the road heading for far-off places similar to where they were going. With every car that went, she wondered where they were headed, if it was anywhere comparable to where they were going, and if she went with them if she’d ever have to return home. Now knowing that the unfortunate detail that they’d already been legally married before the wedding was out in the open, she was worried that returning home after the honeymoon would result in lots of questions and accusations for why, exactly, that had been the case.

She knew what the actual answer was, and it wasn’t anything dirty or depraved like she was sure people would assume. They had gone through with all the papers and become an official married couple weeks beforehand, due to her getting hired on with her dream job and not wanting to have to make a marital status switch (as well as legally changing her name, despite not particularly wanting to) so soon after getting the paperwork for being hired initially done. It was merely a move they’d made to keep her from having to deal with that hassle twice, and it wasn’t like they’d acted on their technically-married status in any ways they would have regretted.

A blush creeped onto her face as she reminded herself that they hadn’t done that simply because they hadn’t had the time, with all the wedding preparations as well as the stress of getting everything for that job set in stone for when she took the position on in a few months. That had been the only thing that had stopped them, something she was completely aware of (and even slightly ashamed of, thinking back to some of the things they’d done behind everyone’s backs before they’d even considered getting married). Just the thought of some of the escapades they had gone on was making her blush come in more vibrant, but it wasn’t just embarrassment and regret that had her cheeks noticeably warming up.

And it was not helped when she felt a hand rest itself on her thigh, which was thankfully still hidden by the long dress she was in. “Say, Maribelle, ya ain’t mad at me for what I told ya I did, are ya?” Vaike asked her, inching his hand up her leg as he spoke. “I don’t know if I’d be able t’handle if you’re mad at me right now, not after what we’ve gone through.”

“I could never be mad at you for something as boneheaded as that,” she replied, turning to face him despite her face being so heated that she was certain he’d be able to see the change in color even under her makeup. “Worst comes to worst, if someone wants to pick a fight over it I’ll explain that we did it for the sake of my new job, and that if the hiring process hadn’t happened when it did, we would most certainly have waited.”

He looked relieved to hear that, but his hand still kept making its journey upward, something that would soon be stopped by the fact that the dress was an impenetrable wall that he wasn’t going to be able to contend with. “No one seemed t’take it that way, if you’re really worried ‘bout that. They thought I was referrin’ to, y’know, other things. Stuff everyone already knew about.”

“With the people you regularly speak with, it wouldn’t surprise me if they thought you were equating other moments in life as the day you got ‘married’ to me, which…isn’t much better than going out and telling them that actual day was weeks ago, but I’d much rather be seen as promiscuous by your friends than a money-stealing liar.”  It wasn’t the truth, Maribelle wouldn’t want to be seen as either, but in the choice between the two she knew that one was a lot less damaging than the other, especially when nothing had ever come from any of the times they’d slept together prior to getting married. “But honestly, if they all knew that about us, I wonder why none of them have yet to ask if they could sleep with me as well.”

“None of ‘em are those kinds of guys, don’t talk about them like that.” Retracting his hand as he’d realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere with it, Vaike moved it to resting on top of one of Maribelle’s hands, giving it a tight squeeze once he’d positioned it properly. “I wouldn’t go around talkin’ like that ‘bout your friends, so why’d you do that to mine?”

“The only person who heard what I said was you, Vaike, it’s not like it’s a damaging statement that I shouted to the world.” She gave him a no-nonsense look, hoping he’d look past the still-obvious signs of embarrassment on her face to take in how serious she was with her statement. But all she got was another squeeze of her hand, the feeling of his simple wedding band pressing into the top of one of her fingers. “Oh, okay, I’ll cease with the comments that you find offensive in regards to the lowly bunch of men you associate with.”

“They ain’t all lowly guys, and I know ya know that. I just don’t see the respectable ones as much as the others.” He laughed, which in turn made Maribelle’s lips form a smile at him. “Gods, you’re really gorgeous today, have I told ya that yet? It’s amazin’ what a li’l bit ‘a time and makeup does t’transform ya from your normal beautiful to somethin’ even greater.”

Her smile grew, even though she knew the flattery was being done in an attempt to steer them away from their previous conversation. She wanted to keep making subtle digs at his friends, but when she saw how star-struck he seemed to be as he was staring at her, she decided that maybe loosening up for once was best. “Why thank you, I’ll be sure to let the lovely ladies who helped me out today know of your glowing compliments. As for you, I’m honestly impressed you’ve managed to stay looking so sharp for this long.”

“Just goes t’show ya that the Vaike can clean up when he wants to. Which ain’t often, but it does happen.” That was when he leaned in towards her, almost as if he was going in for a kiss but stopping himself the moment his forehead pressed against hers. “Damn it, Maribelle, how’d we manage t’get ourselves in this spot?”

His question wasn’t one of surprise or anger, it was a genuine asking of what had gone so right (or so wrong) that had led to the two of them getting married like they had. And it was a question that she wasn’t going to give an answer to, not because she didn’t have one but rather because she wanted him to remember everything for himself. She could retell the story of how their paths had crossed time and time again, never in a professional field but rather through overlapping social circles that slowly started to become one combined unit. She could have given him the reminder that they’d first met while both still in school, each attached to a friend that proceeded to introduce them to the other, and then they steadily got to know each other through other friends they had. The day they’d found out that they were friends with a pair of siblings had been an important day, as it meant they knew they had some way to run into each other, over and over again.

They’d both been present for some of the same social events, including weddings of friends and classmates, and it got to the point that they’d accompany the other to the events simply because everyone deserved to have a date for the day. It was after a wedding they’d attended six years prior, while she was still in high school and he was a year removed, that they’d decided to start casually dating; it wasn’t until her college graduation years later that they officially became a couple, and it was while discussing plans for her graduation from law school three years after that when the idea of getting married was thrown around. He had never amounted to much beyond being a skilled worker when it came to physical labor, and she had high hopes to becoming a renowned lawyer, they weren’t exactly the most equally-matched pair when it came to their place in the world.

But damn it, they’d been in love with each other for so long that it was worth a shot, and so everything had fallen into place to get them exactly where they were at the moment. “I wish there was a short version to tell you,” she finally replied, looking into his eyes and finding herself getting lost in them and the love they contained. “But I’m sure you remember the important details of it all.”

He leaned into her a bit more, now the tip of his nose pressing against hers. “I don’t think I’d ever be able t’forget most of it, t’be honest. Probably the luckiest thing that’s ever happened t’me was gettin’ t’meet you all those years ago.” As he finished leaning forward, his lips touching and locking with hers for a moment, she couldn’t stop herself from her mind focusing on how he was painting their relationship as a creation of luck. Something about that made her want to break away from him and remind him that everything was a product of circumstance and timing—luck was never a part of anything, simple as that. But his kisses were always so tender and warm, she would hate to strip herself of the chance to be receiving one unless it was something important she had to say to him.

Thankfully, that reminder wasn’t anything she felt was terribly important, because their kisses went on for the rest of the ride, with only short breaks for passionate whispers that had them just as breathless as the kissing itself did. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were both still wearing exactly what they had been during the wedding, it would have been entirely possible for clothing to have been lost there in the back of that car, but thanks to some good foresight and just enough restraint they managed to stay completely dressed until they were dropped off at the first stop of their trip.

The seaside town wasn’t anywhere they were planning on actually staying, however, as it was the place where the actual honeymoon destination was accessible from. It did give them the chance to change out of their wedding attire and into their normal clothes, but that was all they had time to do (only partially due to the fact that she was hobbling around with an open wound on the bottom of one foot) before they were whisked away for the real deal of their trip: a romantic cruise paid for entirely by her family as her present for graduating from law school not even a month earlier. This was something neither of them had ever done before, and it was going to be a great experience that they’d be able to share for the rest of their lives.

At least, that’s how it had been planned to go, but they hadn’t considered two things about the cruise: one, the fact that other people would be present, and two, the fact that neither of them had been on a ship for extended periods of time before. So if it wasn’t the constant rocking of the ship making Maribelle feel absolutely miserable, there was a background sound of screaming children that ruined any chances they had of making use of their alone time in the room. The only chance they really had to do anything they wanted, given that they both felt up to it, was the dead of night, but why would they choose to be locked in their room then when they could go up to the upper deck and look at the stars while out on the open seas?

The rocking of the ship might have made stargazing a little uncomfortable, as every time they thought they had a constellation figured out they’d shift ever so slightly and have to reorient themselves, but it was an experience they wouldn’t have anywhere else. Those long nights on the deck were followed by days in the room, soaking up all the time together that they could, even if half of it was spent just laying in bed because even the thought of getting up would make Maribelle’s head spin more than she liked. She hated that she never really found a tolerance for the shaking of the sea, because it did put a damper on the mood of the trip, but at the same time she knew that it would lead to less people questioning her about what activities she got up to while away, and maybe it would even score them a second honeymoon that was better tailored to their interests.

“That could’ve gone over better, I think,” Maribelle admitted once they were back off the ship days later, sitting in that seaside town waiting for their ride to come retrieve them and take them home to the grand city of Ylisstol. “Never did I expect to be made so helpless due to a little bit of rocking on the waves!”

“Happens t’the best of people, especially ones who ain’t used t’bein’ on things that are unsteady like that.” Even after having to spend the past week with his wife complaining about feeling unwell for most of the day, it seemed that Vaike wasn’t going to blame her for anything at all. “Maybe next time someone offers t’pay for a trip for ya, you’ll remember this and tell ‘em to give us somethin’ better than a ship ride.”

“I can’t tell someone what to give me as a gift, that looks rude and ungrateful, two things that I am not!” Lightly smacking his arm, she laughed when she saw his almost offended facial expression due to the act. “You cannot suggest that someone as kind-hearted and classy as myself does such a thing, it’ll look bad when it gets back to me.”

He had to take a second, but he laughed as well. “Y’mean people don’t already look at’cha, with your prissy attitude and constant dirty looks, and assume you’re rude? That’s news t’me, because I can’t tell ya how many times—“

“Vaike, can you do me a favor?” she interrupted him, raising her hand to give him another smack, which he immediately recoiled in response to. “Please shut up and don’t continue speaking until we’re home.”

“—yeah, can’t say I didn’t deserve hearin’ ya say that.” He mimed zipping his lips and made good on what he’d been told, even if he took it a bit further than Maribelle had intended for him to. She had just wanted him to stop talking for a moment, to think about what it was he was saying there to her face, but he kept himself silent for the entire car ride back to town, leaving her to get lost in her own thoughts while they rode together. Of course, she was basically on his lap in the back seat this time, and with them wearing normal clothing it was much easier for him to get his hands on her in ways that made her squirm and _wish_ he hadn’t made himself stay silent, because she was certain he’d have some colorful remarks to make while they were sitting there.

It did mean that the first time they got together in the bedroom once they were home and settled in had a lot more dirty talk than their normal encounters, however.

This married couple thing was going to work out well for them.

* * *

As the dust settled after their return home, people stopped questioning them so much about what they’d done on their honeymoon and how things had gone over. By two weeks post-return, it was almost as if nothing had happened, and while that bothered Maribelle because it meant people weren’t caring as much about her anymore, it was a nice change of pace to not have everyone grilling her about her life. That was, until it was a month to the day after the wedding and she was invited out for a coffee date with her best friend in the whole world, with one purpose that she was dreading to have to deal with.

“So, okay, I know coffee’s not good for unborn babies, but I figured that it’d be so early that it wouldn’t affect you that much,” Lissa said as she held the door to the coffee shop open for Maribelle, trying to restrain herself from excitedly giggling as she did. “I just needed somewhere that we could both talk about this where it wouldn’t be possible for anyone that knows us to overhear.”

“That’s a lovely gesture, Lissa, but as I told you after the wedding I cannot allow myself to have a child right now. That didn’t change in the time between me saying it then and us getting on that ship, I can assure you that.” Maribelle didn’t find Lissa’s insistence funny, but she couldn’t help but smile when she saw her friend’s spirits come crashing down. “I know, you’re heartbroken at the news, but I really cannot sacrifice my professional life for a family right now.”

“I was really hoping you’d go back on all that, because you’d make such a perfect mom if you let yourself do it!” Snapping her fingers in defeat as she let the door close on them both, Lissa took the news in stride, moving on to the next point even before Maribelle had a chance to reflect on the previous one. “But okay, it didn’t happen then, but it’ll happen soon enough, right? You said you’d consider it in a few months, you can’t let me down on that part!”

Her smile faltering as she thought about what acting on that would mean, Maribelle shook her head. “I can’t guarantee anything at this point, but if my job ends up taking too much out of me I’m not going to want to commit to raising a child while dealing with work. And even if I wanted to, this isn’t only my decision to make. I do have a husband who would get more of a say in this than you would, my dear.”

“I know that, gods! I’m just, well, really excited to see you get to be a mom sometime super soon, and I want it to be as soon as it can be!” If they weren’t in a public place, Lissa most likely would have twirled around in her abundance of joy, but she instead reined it in long enough to order herself and Maribelle their drinks before finding them a table nestled in the corner for the rest of their discussion.

But she wasn’t the one who got to choose the direction once they’d sat down, as Maribelle had been given just enough time to call attention to something she’d found interesting about the topic. “Why are you so insistent that it’s me that has a child?” she asked, catching Lissa off-guard as she was trying to climb into her chair. “Why can’t you be the one to settle down and start a family? Your life goals aren’t as professionally-focused as mine are, you’d be perfect for the job.”

“I’m insistent it’s you because hello, you’re the one between us that’s actually married, and you’d make much cuter babies than me anyway.” Getting into her chair with a heavy sigh, Lissa laid her head down on the table and looked at Maribelle the best she could given her position. “Face it, in my family, I got the ugly genes and I don’t wanna burden some kid with the same problem I have.”

“You didn’t get any ugly anything, Lissa, you’re quite beautiful in your own ways.” Maribelle reached over to play with part of her friend’s hair that was sticking up out of its stretched hairtie, grasping it between two fingers and rolling it around. “And I assure you, with how dedicated you are to try and push me to reproducing, I think you’d be better off raising your own cute kids.”

Lissa sighed again, her shoulders raising and falling with the breath she’d taken in. “Yeah, see, even if I wanted to agree with you—which I don’t—I couldn’t, because I don’t even have a boyfriend! How would I have kids if I don’t have a guy to make them with?”

“Don’t have a…Lissa! You could easily have a boyfriend if you’d allow yourself to date someone, you’ve had plenty of men offer themselves to you and you’ve always turned them down! You can’t complain about that when it’s your own fault!” Letting go of her hair, Maribelle slammed her hand down and startled Lissa back up to sitting. “I’m sure if we gave it two minutes’ worth of thought we could come up with a list of potential suitors for you, and you would reject each and every one of them.”

“Please, I’ve only ever rejected a few guys in my life, you’re acting like I get asked out more than I actually do. Besides, who do we even know that’s still unmarried and is a decent person that won’t end up causing more trouble than anything else?” She gave Maribelle a smug look, waiting for an answer that she was certain wouldn’t come.

It was then a surprise to her when Maribelle immediately had a response that wasn’t pulled from thin air: “I know for a _fact_ that one best friend of your brother’s has a bit of a thing for you, it’s been obvious for years and yet you’ve never once seen it.”

“Best friend of my brother’s…oh. Oh! But he’s _like_ a brother to me, that’d be kind of weird, don’t you think?” Lissa tilted her head to the side, bringing a bent finger to the corner of her mouth as she waited for an answer.

Maribelle shrugged. “You asked me who I knew that’s unmarried and decent, I merely gave you someone who fits those criteria. You can do whatever you want with that information.”

“Well, what if I don’t like what I think you’re wanting me to do with it? What if I want a second opinion on what to do?” By this time, a barista was bringing them their drinks, and the look on the poor woman’s face as she heard what they were talking about and imagining the worst was priceless. Lissa had to apologize to her and insist that they weren’t talking about anything bad before she walked away, leaving the two ladies sitting there with their drinks. “Does it sound like I’m talking about dirty things? Because I’m not, we’re not, we’re just talking about boys and whatnot, right?”

“I only know that to be true because I am actively part of this conversation, who knows what someone listening in on us might think. Now either choose to discuss this with him, or move on to finding someone else that fits inside the specific box you’ve set for yourself, because I don’t think there’s anyone else I know of that would work for you.” Grabbing her drink and taking a sip of it, Maribelle watched Lissa squirm in her seat, enjoying seeing her feeling so put on the spot.

So when Lissa’s anxious behavior caused her to jostle the table, knocking her cup off the table and straight into Maribelle’s lap, it looked like an instant dose of karma had come to put her back in her place. “Oh gods, I didn’t mean to do that!” she shrieked out, jumping from the chair to grab napkins to try cleaning Maribelle off. “At least it’s not a hot drink, huh?”

“Oh yes, I can’t say I’d be this collected if you’d just spilled piping-hot coffee on me,” Maribelle replied, setting her own drink down to start wringing out her clothing the best she could. “However, you are going to have to be the one to pay for the dry-cleaning charges for fixing these stains, I didn’t cause this to happen myself and you know it.”

“I hear you, I’ll make sure everything gets stain-free as soon as I can!” Her hands filled with napkins that she was nearly throwing at her friend to get them to her faster, Lissa waited until Maribelle had them in her hands before she went off to get an employee to help with cleaning the mess up off the floor and to maybe supply something that would make cleaning the clothing a bit easier. She came back with the same person who’d delivered them their drinks, and while she didn’t say anything to them about their previous topic of discussion it was clear that she was hesitant to be interacting with them.

By the time they got the mess cleaned up, Maribelle had accepted that she was going to have to head home to change her clothes, and Lissa had offered to come with her, so that she could get them taken care of faster. “I appreciate the offer, but you might not want to stop by my house right now, we’ve been working hard to reorganize it after finally getting both of our belongings in it and it’s…well, it’s quite the disaster, to be frank.” Maribelle was resisting trying to wring out her shirt once more, the dark-colored spot on the front of it starting to drive her batty. “If you do come, I’ll have to ask you to stay outside until I get changed.”

“You act like I’ve never seen a dirty house before, Maribelle. I totally have, by the way, I used to live with my brother and you know how messy of a guy he is.” Grinning, Lissa looked at Maribelle and hoped she’d change her mind, but she seemed dead-set enough in her ways to not want to budge on the decision. That still didn’t stop her from tagging along, in case something changed between the coffee shop and her house, and even though it didn’t seem to be changing at all she was still happy to have been allowed to even come along.

Arriving outside the modest house that Maribelle called home (“modest” was her own word for it, as she’d grown up in something more akin to a mansion and a smaller home simply had to be modest), the two ladies were surprised to see that they weren’t showing up somewhere that was empty for the day. With a ladder leaned up against the side of the house, and piles of roofing material scattered not just in the yard but up on the roof as well, they were greeted by Vaike up on top of the house, doing whatever he felt like doing. “Gods damn it, he’s started doing this today?” Maribelle asked herself, looking at the precarious position her husband was in before shaking her head. “No matter, I’ll be in and out in seconds. Lissa, be a dear and make sure he doesn’t fall off, will you?”

“Make sure he doesn’t fall off? Why’s he up there in the first place if you’re scared of that?” By the time she was finished asking her question, Maribelle had already headed for the door to change her clothing, leaving Lissa standing in front of the house, looking up at the man on the roof to make sure he didn’t end up falling. Even with them having had said something, he didn’t seem to notice that anyone had come to watch him, which meant that he was minding his own business and continuing on with his work.

It wasn’t until the front door slammed shut after Maribelle had come back outside in clean clothes that he noticed someone was there, and when he came to look out at the yard and saw two ladies looking up at him, he gave them both a big smile and wave. “Didn’t expect t’see ya here right now, which is why I got started on some ‘a the louder things I’ll haveta do for this job,” he explained, motioning towards some of the materials that were scattered around. “Figured you’d appreciate that one, Maribelle.”

“I do appreciate it, but you cannot be endangering yourself by doing this alone!” Stomping her foot down to express how unhappy she was, she continued with, “I demand you get down here right now and stay on the ground until you find someone, anyone, who will help you out with this!”

“And why’s that? It ain’t like this is what I do sometimes for work, I can handle this all on my own.” Vaike’s grin didn’t falter even when Maribelle gave a loud and angered groan, but it started to as he watched her start storming towards the ladder, his face alighting in panic as she grabbed it and started to climb. “Whoa there, what d’ya think you’re doin’ right now? This ain’t a place for you, and you know it.”

“If you’re not going to come down, and I won’t allow you to work up here by yourself, I’m going to force you down myself!” she replied, her arms shaking as she climbed the ladder, making it halfway up before it shifted slightly and she yelped in fear. “How can you do dangerous things like this on a regular basis? This is going to get you killed!”

“I haven’t gotten killed yet, and I’ve been doin’ this for a long time. Get down off the ladder and then we can talk ‘bout it, okay?” He was holding the top of the ladder to keep it from shifting more, even though Maribelle was shaking like a leaf in the middle of it. She looked terrified to move up or down, which was making his job harder. “C’mon, ya know that it’s safest for ya t’be on the ground, so why don’tcha just get back down?”

Looking up at him, her eyes as wide as they could possibly get, she considered doing just that but then when she moved her foot to try and jump down she felt like she was about to fall and she screamed. “I-I-I _can’t_ get down right now! Someone needs to help me!”

“I’m up on the roof, the only way I’m gonna help ya get down is by pushin’ ya and the ladder both to the ground and I don’t think that’s what you’re askin’ for.” Without any other options, he glanced towards the other person that was present, Lissa having brought both of her hands to her face as she watched what was unfolding before her. “Hey, Lissa! Mind helpin’ your best friend out of her sticky situation?”

She had to snap back into reality when her name was called, but soon enough she was at the base of the ladder, trying to coax Maribelle to come down into her open and waiting arms. “Don’t worry, between the two of us nothing bad’s going to happen to you, and if it did somehow we’d be here to help you through it!” she said, hoping that her happy demeanor towards the situation would be comforting.

“I cannot allow anything to happen to me, I start my new job in a few weeks and I cannot be rolled into the office in a chair because I snapped a leg falling off a ladder!” Still refusing to move from her spot, it took several minutes of them both assuring her that nothing would go wrong if she tried climbing down before she made any progress, and it wasn’t until Lissa was able to get both hands on her and bring her all the way to the ground that she stopped being so stubborn about the situation. Once her two feet were firmly planted on the ground, she was back to looking up at Vaike, who was still on the roof right above where the ladder was resting. “I hope you’re about to follow me down, now that that ordeal is over.”

He glanced behind him to where the materials he’d been working with were still piled, before looking out to the yard where more of the same was. “Yeah, y’see, I can’t exactly do that without leavin’ this huge mess, why don’t ya just lemme finish up and then I’ll come down t’be with ya. Won’t be too long.”

“Uh, I don’t think so. What are you even doing up there, anyway? When we bought this house we made sure everything was perfect and now you’re already doing work to change something?” She motioned towards the ladder, beckoning for him to climb down it. “I demand you get down here right now, so we can put this all behind us.”

“No, when we bought this place we were told this was gonna haveta be fixed, so I told the guy sellin’ it that I’d fix it myself if he provided the tools for it.” Looking defiantly down at his wife for a second, seeing the way she was growing more and more impatient with him, he gave a long sigh and started descending the ladder. “But I guess I’ll make it wait ‘til a time you’re more okay with it, huh?”

Giving him a nod once he was down on the ground, Maribelle nearly tackled him the moment he stepped away from the ladder and therefore wouldn’t be able to go back up it. “Do not ever do that kind of thing without someone around in case things go wrong, okay? If you’d gotten hurt up there and I hadn’t had to come home, could you imagine how bad that would have been? It would have been simply horrible!”

“Never mind the fact that this is some of the stuff I do for work, why’re ya gettin’ so protective of me right now? Ya know that I’m up in high places all the time, lots ‘a those times by myself, this ain’t anythin’ new t’ya.” Gently offering his hand to her, so that when she took it he could pull her in close to him, Vaike then used his other hand to lightly tap her on the nose, which made her break from her anger to laugh. “Please don’t get so worried about me when I’m just doin’ what I do best, everythin’ will always be fine. Trust me.”

“I’d totally trust him on this one,” Lissa said from a few steps away, listening to their every word as it was said. “He’s done so much handyman work for my brother and never once gotten hurt on the job, I don’t know why you’d ever worry that he would get hurt!”

With the two people she believed most in the world telling her to trust this, Maribelle felt she had no choice but to do exactly that. While she didn’t let Vaike go finish the job right away, she did decide that she was going to have to at some point, since their house and yard couldn’t forever be covered in roofing materials, but she also decided that when it happened, she’d have to be home for it, just in case things went wrong. This was, of course, despite both of them assuring that nothing would, due to personal experience or having heard stories about how good he was at what he did.

So when she finally relented and allowed for him to work on their roof by himself again, he made sure to promise her over and over that nothing would go wrong. “It’s just a simple roof job, it’ll take me a couple days t’get finished and then we won’t haveta worry about it again for years,” he explained, her jaw dropping with mention of the length of the project. “And now y’know why I wanted t’get it started when I did, don’tcha?”

“You could have told me that this would take days to finish!” She’d already had to accept that until it was finished the outside of the house would look trashy, but now she had to accept that it would still look like that for longer, this roofing job not a task that took a few hours. “What am I supposed to do, I want to be here to make sure nothing’ll go wrong, but with my new job—“

“Shush it, Maribelle, there’s no reason for ya t’be worryin’ ‘bout me getting hurt up there. I’ve been doin’ work like this since I was younger just t’get some money in my pocket and I’ve never been hurt yet. What’s gonna happen if ya end up at work while I’m up there? Oh, that’s right, nothin’ except me gettin' things done, that’s what. Stop bein’ such a worrier.” He leaned in to kiss her forehead, which she allowed for a few seconds, before she pushed him away, her jaw still slightly ajar. “C’mon, it’ll all be fine. You should just focus on your new job and I’ll focus on finishin’ this.”

His insistence should have been enough to soothe Maribelle’s worried soul, but she couldn’t bring herself to fully accept that he’d be okay after days of work up there. However, it wasn’t like she could spend all of her energy fretting over him, not when two days later was her first official day in her new position in the law offices, after the retirement of the previous person who’d held the exact spot she had studied so hard for. Working with children in specific wasn’t something she had always wanted to do, but when she heard about how impactful a lawyer who dealt exclusively with cases involving children could be on the lives they touched, she knew it was the position for her.

It had been six years of schooling to get her to the place she was in, and this was the reward: an office with her name on the door, her own desk filled with case paperwork and files upon files she’d have to deal with in the coming weeks and months. Even though she hadn’t officially started before this point, she had been debriefed on the inner workings of the law offices she was working for prior to her first day, so that she could slide in seamlessly, or at least without too many hassles. And despite wanting to feel overwhelmed by looking at how many different cases she was already supposed to go through and pick between, she had to hold her head high and not let the stress of this position get to her.

This is what she’d been working towards for so long, she couldn’t give it up just because of some initial stresses. She’d been chosen to fill the position because of her determination and her proven care for the law system; even if she’d never worked an actual lawyer job in her life before she’d been hired that was excusable because she wasn’t going to learn how to be her best if she wasn’t given a shot. There were so many case files she was expected to jump right into, so many clients she needed to meet with and get to know, and so much work that needed to be done, that she had to sit and really focus on getting started.

All it would take to shatter her concentration would be one call from her husband, though, and when that call came she was having to pick between sticking around for the rest of the time she should have been in the office and going to make sure he was okay. Retaining any information she was studying after seeing that he’d called—not even answering it and feeling like she absolutely had to be involved—was next to impossible, and so the first chance she had to take a break she stepped outside and called him back to see what was going on.

“I wouldn’t be interruptin’ ya at work if it wasn’t somethin’ important,” he told her once her call went through (it took several tries, which she assumed meant his phone was on silent or not near him). “See, I didn’t realize that the gun was gonna shoot when I was holdin’ it, and I wish I could say all I did was damage a couple tiles, but…”

“A gun? What in Naga’s name are you talking about?” In the background, Maribelle could hear the occasional wind gust blowing, meaning that Vaike was definitely outside as he was on the phone with her. The gears in her head started turning, thinking to what he’d said he’d be doing that day, finishing up work on the roof, and it clicked what he was referring to. “You didn’t manage to hurt yourself with your _nail_ gun, did you?”

He hesitated before answering, giving it away that she’d guessed correctly. “C’mon, it’s the first time it’s ever happened, but it got my foot pretty good and I don’t wanna haveta call anyone else t’come help me out. I’m, uh, still up on the roof right now, by the way, and gettin' down with this in my foot ain’t gonna be easy.”

“What do you expect me to do about this? I’m at work, my love, I can’t just walk out of here and leave even more for me to do tomorrow! You need to call someone else, someone you know will know exactly what to do to help you, and then you can tell me what you decided later after I’m off.” She didn’t like that she was having to blow him off like she was, but she felt like she didn’t have a choice. This was her first week at this job, she couldn’t already be taking personal time to deal with her boneheaded husband hurting himself.

“Please, Maribelle, I don’t want t’haveta go to anyone else, y’know they’re all gonna be judgmental and gross about this,” he pleaded, sounding genuinely scared of what anyone else would think of him if they found out he’d shot himself. “I just want t’know that whoever helps me out won’t be weird about havin’ to help me.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to think of some suggestion she could give him. “I can’t be the one to bail you out of every situation you get yourself into, Vaike. It’s just not plausible. You’ll have to ask someone else to help you, and I assure you that everything will be okay if you do.”

Their conversation would have gone longer had she had more time to continue talking, but she felt like her minutes outside of the office had already been too long for her new position in the workplace. She had to hang up on him with the knowledge that he was still alone and stuck on the roof of their house with at least one nail lodged in his foot, and for the rest of her workday she was left worrying about whether or not he’d ever managed to get down, much less get any kind of medical attention. This meant that every time she’d read through something about a child in a home where they or their parent had sustained any sort of injury, her mind would slip off to what she was worrying about rather than what she should have been focusing on.

By the time she’d put in enough time to call it a day, she was pretty certain she hadn’t retained a lick of any of the past several hours’ worth of cases and would have to re-read them all when she came in the next day. But who could blame her, especially when she checked her phone to see that she hadn’t gotten a single call or message letting her know what was going on, therefore rendering her unable to know if he was okay. All attempts at calling him put her at his voicemail, and she could have left him screeching and panicked messages the whole way home if she’d wanted to. But she chose to instead swing by the house to see if he was still there, because if he wasn’t answering anything it was highly likely his phone had just died up on the roof while he’d been waiting for someone to come help him down.

He wasn’t there when she got home, and there was no sign of where he might have ended up. The roof looked to be finished, judging by how all there was left in the yard was the packaging and trash from the job, so when he’d shot himself it must have been right at the end of what he was doing, but that still didn’t explain where he’d gone, or how he’d gotten down. Checking by the ladder she could see droplets of dried blood, which made her cringe because he’d clearly gotten down somehow, although once at the bottom of the ladder there wasn’t any blood trail at all. Fear was settling deep in her stomach at this point, all the worries she could think of eating away at her, and it was then that she tried contacting him again, still without success.

As a last resort, she checked inside but found the house empty, and as that meant he had definitely gone elsewhere she assumed (and hoped) that he’d had the intelligence to take himself to get his foot looked at. With that in mind, she chose to head down to the nearby hospital, just to check and see if that was where he’d ended up. The friendly person at the front desk had an answer for her, which soothed her worrying soul, and also explained why he’d shut his phone off and wasn’t answering anything: they’d taken him in to get the nail out and the wound cleaned, and they’d requested he keep his phone on silent while in one of the rooms. Maribelle was fully aware that the volume setting on Vaike’s phone was busted, which meant it was always in a sound-making state, and when he was asked to silence it he simply turned it off.

That mystery had solved itself, and although she was upset he hadn’t told her where he was going before he’d gotten there, she wasn’t going to fault him for not answering when she’d tried asking where he was. But as much as she’d like to have gone to see him, a part of her felt vengeful for not being told where he was right away, making her choose to get information for where he was for when she was finally ready to check on him. Since she was at the hospital, a place closely aligned with her law office, she felt like she was obligated to at least take a look around the area she would most likely be spending a lot of time on whenever she came to the hospital.

It was its own separate wing of the building, brightly-colored walls greeting her when she pushed through the doors on the ground floor. The receptionist at the desk was busy speaking with a tall woman in an official-looking coat when Maribelle walked up to the desk, looking around for the directory so she could get a feel for the layout. It took a few moments of her standing there for both the receptionist and the person she was speaking with to see that someone had joined them, but when they did the woman that was standing was the first to say something. “You look like you come on law-related business. I was unaware we were having any kind of meetings today.”

“I, er, wouldn’t say I am here on ‘business’, even if I am here to know where offices in the pediatric wing are,” Maribelle explained, smiling at the woman who narrowed her gaze back at her. “I can leave right now, if that makes things easier for you.”

The woman’s curt shake of her head, her piercing eyes ripping into Maribelle as she still focused on her, showed that she was not going to be friendly to deal with. Yet, when she spoke, her voice wasn’t nearly as brash as her body language. “You must be the new lawyer I was informed of the other day. A bit eager to get into this side of your job, are you now?”

“More like, I’m here for a different reason but figured I could spare a moment to check out this wing.” As she gave an awkward chuckle, the woman asked her to elaborate on what she meant, something that instantly made her regret saying anything about having a reason to be at the hospital. “Well, you see, I’m here to visit my husband, but since I just got off work I suppose I’m still in the work mindset.”

“A husband? What does he do?” The woman’s question was asked as she was walking around the desk to join Maribelle on the other side. “If he is here, he must be one of the doctors or nurses on duty, given how you seem to be a woman of high standards.”

She forced a smile that faded within seconds. “Let’s…not really talk about him, shall we? Perhaps we could introduce ourselves to one another before we get into the personal details behind either of us?” Holding out a hand, watching the woman eye it suspiciously before taking it into her own, she then said, carefully dodging around exchanging any information that would make her too memorable, “My name is Maribelle, lawyer and advocate for children who need a voice. And you are?”

“Newly-positioned head of the pediatric wing of this hospital. For the sake of simplicity, you may call me Panne.” Her handshake was brief, but it was squeezing a lot tighter than Maribelle had expected it to in the short time it lasted. “It is a pleasure to meet you under these positive circumstances, I would hate for our first interaction to come on business, where we must be nothing but progessional.”

“I’d hate for it too, don’t worry.” Giving a quick laugh, Maribelle told herself that she wasn’t ever going to explain that she was only there because her husband had gotten himself injured while doing house renovation work. This woman seemed far above interacting with anyone who did menial work like that, and she didn’t want Panne’s first impression of her to be that she was trying too hard to be at a social level where she didn’t belong. “So, you mentioned that this is a new position for you? When did you come here to Ylisstol?”

Panne seemed bothered by the question, judging by how she inched back from Maribelle after it was asked, but she still went through with answering it. “Roughly a month ago, once the position was officially mine. I was hesitant to come by myself initially, but now that a role in the city jail has opened up for my husband to transfer into, he shall be joining me here permanently in this city that desired people with our particular skillsets.”

“Oh, you’re married as well?” Maribelle’s eyes shifted to look at the woman’s hands, which both seemed to be bare of any jewelry; she was about to comment on that before remembering that they were in a hospital setting and rings might not have been a good idea for anyone to be wearing when they came in contact with patients. “What a lucky man you must have found, to be married to a head of an entire wing of a hospital!”

“I could say the same about your husband, he must be proud to be married to a woman who has dedicated her life to protecting children in the court of law.” A wistful look came over Panne, as she turned her head to look just past Maribelle, down towards the hallway where patient rooms were located. “Maybe there will be a day where your path and mine cross in a way that isn’t strictly work-focused. But today is not that day, and neither is tomorrow, and so we cannot dwell on that.”

“I suppose we cannot, yes.” In all honesty, Maribelle wasn’t sure what Panne was talking about, but she knew that she couldn’t question it now. There would certainly be time in their future conversations for it to be brought up, especially given that this woman had uprooted herself and her husband to take on a job that clearly meant a lot to her. “Anyway, I should let you get back to your work, unless you aren’t busy, in which case I’d love to be shown around a bit to know where I can find you and your assistants in the future.”

No response was immediately given, as Panne seemed to be lost within her own thoughts looking down the hallway, but after she shook her head she waved for Maribelle to follow her. “I could spare a moment to direct you to where my office is, in the unfortunate instance that you may need me.” She sounded almost as if thinking about a situation where she and the law would need to be involved was genuinely distressing to her, and it made Maribelle almost thinking about rescinding her request, but by the time she’d decided that might be for the best they were already heading towards the wing elevator to head up a few floors to the administrative offices of the pediatric department. The entire ride up was silent, which made it feel much longer than it actually was, and when they got to their floor Panne didn’t even make sure Maribelle was still following her as she headed towards the destination.

When they got to the offices, or at least to the locked door outside the offices, she made a gesture towards the blank nameplate on the door. “They misspelled my name on their first engraving, which I felt would look unprofessional if we let it hang. The man in charge of the welcoming of all newcomers—I believe his name was Chrom?—he made sure to promise he would fix it as soon as possible.”

“Oh, you’ve met Chrom already?” Maribelle’s question came out of her mouth before she had time to properly think it through, and the way Panne looked at her in surprise for asking it showed that she needed to make some kind of explanation for why she asked, and quickly. “I, ahem, am best friends with his younger sister. She’s actually a nurse in the main hospital, in case you haven’t had the chance to meet her.”

“Is that the only reason why you speak of him like you know him very well?” Panne had one eyebrow raised as she continued looking down at Maribelle. “Could this be why you refused to explain to me about your husband, because of—“

“I’m not married to Chrom, if that’s what you’re assuming!” Throwing her hands up defensively, Maribelle couldn’t help but laugh as she watched Panne accept what she’d just said and nod in understanding at it. “He is nothing more than a brother figure to me, but I always forget that his involvement in this hospital goes beyond just being one of the most important men here. He’s rather down-to-earth when you get to know him.”

“As I am someone who found a desire to work in an establishment like this thanks to his older sister, I cannot wait for the day when I get to speak with him more personally. If he is even a fraction of the kind soul that Emmeryn was, he must be saint-like.” She then proceeded to explain to Maribelle how she’d gotten involved with Emmeryn, which was a long enough story that it took several minutes and had many people coming in and out of the office door before she’d even realized she’d started rambling about things.

When she did get a handle on time once more, she ended their talk abruptly, bidding a quick farewell before heading inside the office for herself, leaving Maribelle standing there rather confused at what had just happened to her, but fully aware that she no longer had an excuse to keep being away from where her husband was. “I think we came up to the third floor to get here,” she said to herself, looking around, “but I don’t know if I can get to the main hospital’s third floor while in this wing…”

It was at least worth a shot to try and find her way over, but her attempt came up fruitless as she discovered the pediatric wing’s third floor was entirely self-contained, aside from another locked door that she was certain would bridge the gap if she had the clearance to go through it. That meant, in order to get to the room the initial receptionist she’d spoken with had told her she was aiming for, she had to go downstairs and back into the other part of the building, just to go upstairs from there. It wasn’t a long journey, and she was able to get the pediatric desk receptionist a farewell wave as she passed by, but she felt it would have been nice if she’d been able to use that access door.

That was just one flaw in choosing to be a lawyer instead of a nurse like Lissa had, she supposed, and that wasn’t going to cause her to melt down over it. She made it to her destination without much other distraction, no floor nurses or attendants recognizing her as she walked the halls by herself, which was odd given how many people she knew who worked in the hospital. When she got to the door to the room she’d been directed to, she contemplated not going in after all, just heading home and acting like she’d been unaware that this was where he ended up, but she figured that would be a rather jerkish move for her to make, especially given that her coming to the hospital in the first place had allowed her to meet someone she’d get to know through work.

“I want answers as to why you didn’t tell me you’re here,” she said as she opened the door, before finding no response as there seemed to be no one inside. She stepped back outside and made sure the room number matched the one she’d been told to go to, which it did, and then she went right back in, looking around with concerned eyes at the complete lack of anyone being present. “How odd, this is definitely the room I was told to come to, and yet…”

There was a rustling sound from behind the curtain that divided the room in half, and she couldn’t help but shriek when she saw a hand pull on the curtain, opening it so that light from the window outside initially blinded her. “Didja think that a li’l nail in a foot was gonna give me a room ‘a my own?” Vaike asked her, a reminder that even though she was a bit upset with him at how he’d left her unaware of things, the fact remained that what had happened wasn’t that serious. “They’ve been makin’ me wait for ya t’get here, someone shoulda called ya or somethin’ by now t’let ya know that’s what’s happenin’.”

“Must have missed that call,” she mumbled, looking at his bandaged foot and how the shoe he’d been wearing when he’d shot himself was discarded into the corner. “Now look at what you’ve done to yourself, we’re going to have to go get you proper work shoes now that this has happened, aren’t we?”

“T’be fair, I shoulda had those a long time ago, it’s honestly a miracle that it’s taken this long for somethin’ like this t’happen t’me.” Sitting at the edge of the bed, he kicked his injured foot up and laughed as he tried wiggling his toes, to no avail. “Doc says it’ll be a couple weeks ‘fore this thing really heals up, which means it looks like you’re the one doin’ all the work around the house until then. Sorry ‘bout that, by the way.”

Forcing a smile as she accepted this fate she’d now have to face, Maribelle told him it wasn’t going to be any sort of issue, even though inside she knew it was. She was already going to be going through so much at work, she’d been hoping that she’d be coming home to a house that was cared for and all her meals already prepared. Now she was going to have to do that for herself (for a couple of weeks, anyway)? It was almost like the universe was laughing at her, throwing a bad event right into her plans.

A stroke of awful luck, if she could bear herself to think of it that way.


	2. The Parasol

Those weeks were hard, Maribelle was ashamed to admit, but she wasn’t going to sugar-coat the fact that she had gotten overly stressed while having to balance everything in her life completely on her own. She’d never been one to dabble in housekeeping things, as she’d grown up in a wealthy family and had always had someone around to take care of things for her. Now that she was a married and not completely wealthy woman, she had figured she’d be able to rely on her husband to help her out, but clearly that hadn’t worked out entirely.

The point was, after he was given clearance to use his foot again, she was done with being the housewife she’d been having to pretend to be, at least for the moment. “I’m not made for that kind of work,” she bluntly told him the day after he’d been allowed to start walking with full weight on his foot again. “It’s not difficult on its own, but couple it with my job and it’s a nightmare that I would rather not have to live through again.”

“I hear ya loud and clear on that, sorry for makin’ things so difficult for ya so soon after ya started workin’.” Awkwardly scratching at the back of his head, Vaike at least had the decency to give her a genuine smile that she couldn’t resist melting at the sight of. “Look, t’make it up t’ya, why don’t ya get a day to yourself? Next time you’re off, I’ll let ya do whatever ya want t’do, and ya don’t even haveta invite me along.”

“So you mean I’m allowed to do exactly what I always do, but I don’t have to worry about you feeling left out while I’m doing it. I think I can enjoy that when the time comes for it.” This was a heartfelt offer she’d been given, and Maribelle wasn’t going to turn it down just because she was always allowed to do things without having to include her husband in them. “Now it becomes a challenge of what I will do with this opportunity…”

For days she kept coming up with ideas that she thought would be worth it, but she’d always talk herself out of acting on it because it always ended up being something that she thought would be more fun if Vaike was there with her. He was quite frequently the life of every social situation they were involved in, and for her to knowingly exclude him from something that would be somewhere he could be entertaining, it would just be wrong of her. Which with that in mind, it basically left her with the option of having a girls’ day out with some friends, or else she was getting into involving people that would be best enjoyed with her husband in tow.

That was how she found herself arranging a lunch date with Lissa, on a day that neither of them worked so that they could both dedicate as much time to each other as they possibly could. It wasn’t the most exciting option Maribelle had to pick from, but it was the only one she could partake in and actually feel good about. Of course, she explained to Lissa why this date was happening when it was, making it a point to mention the agreement of a day all to herself for being such a dedicated housewife for such a short period of time.

“Oh man, I bet having to actually take care of yourself must’ve been so hard,” Lissa had said in direct response to the reasoning, which didn’t sit right with Maribelle because she knew for a fact that her friend had been raised to be just as coddled as she had been. Of course, their coddling had been a bit different, and perhaps being raised by older siblings wouldn’t have led to someone being so utterly unaware of how to take care of simple household tasks on their own, but she wasn’t going to dwell on that. She just knew that Lissa thought this was going overboard as a reward for something so relatively normal, and that wasn’t going to make their lunch date very fun when it happened.

This was already shaping up to be a disaster in her mind, and now she either needed to find a way out or find a way to make it go over better than it currently felt like it was going to. She failed on both options, not wanting to break a date when she’d already committed to it but also not knowing anyone else she’d be willing to invite to it that wouldn’t make things awkward. And so it was set in stone, the two ladies going out for lunch on one of their collective days off, time where they could talk and goof off like the old days without worrying about having to switch into work mode after they were done.

But, in typical Maribelle fashion, she made sure that their lunch was at one of the classiest restaurants in all of Ylisstol, somewhere she hadn’t been since she was younger and going out to meals regularly with her parents. Judging by how shocked Lissa was at the interior of the restaurant, she most likely had never been there herself, which was going to make this a new experience for her. “Don’t worry, my dear, we’re both of high enough standing in this town to fit right in with the normal clientele here,” Maribelle assured her when they were both in the lobby, waiting for the hostess to come back to seat them. “If anyone asks who we are, you mention your brother and I’ll mention my parents, we’ll be fine.”

“Do you really think we’ll have to resort to relying on their accomplishments to fit in here?” Lissa asked, worry evident in her voice. “Because I’d like to think that saying I work at the hospital, and that you work for a really big law firm, would make them take us seriously.”

Maribelle gave a flippant shrug, having not thought about using her own life to get accepted by the staff at her restaurant of choice. “I’m sure it’s not anything that will ever come up, but if for some reason we are asked about why we think we deserve to be here, I suppose relying on what we have accomplished ourselves makes sense. But really, as long as we have the money to pay for the service and the meal, I don’t think there will be any issues.”

“And we do have that money, right?” Lissa’s eyes were almost pleading with Maribelle, begging her to have a positive answer, and when she said that she did indeed have the money it was a weight off her shoulders. “Okay, cool! I’ve always wanted to eat at a place like this, but Chrom and Emmeryn always told me to save my money for what matters, not fancy meals.”

“It’s fine to go out and treat yourself every once in a while, as long as you aren’t spending all your hard-earned money on the frivolous things.” It felt weird to Maribelle for her to be the one saying that the occasional dive into treating oneself was allowed, because she’d always tried living her life to where she was treating herself all the time, and she was sure that Lissa was mentally calling her out for her advice.

Or maybe she wasn’t, as she looked at her friend to see her staring down at the ground, hands held behind her back and one of her feet tracing circles on the floor. “Well, uh, you see, I’ve already gone out and treated myself a couple times this week. Sort of, anyway. I wasn’t the one paying for it, so…”

“Your brother treating you to something isn’t quite what I’m referring to, my dear.” The way Lissa looked up at her when she said that, looking sheepish and almost as if she’d said something that wasn’t true, caught Maribelle by surprise. “It…wasn’t him?” she asked for clarification, and Lissa shook her head. “His wife?” Another head shake, which made Maribelle all the more confused. “I’m afraid I don’t know who else it would have been, if not either one of them or myself.”

“I might have gone on a couple of dates this week,” Lissa replied, her cheeks starting to brighten in a blush, “and they were really sweet and I think I’m going to like going on more with him when the—“

Maribelle hadn’t meant to rudely interrupt her friend, but her excitement and curiosity got the better of her and she let it happen. “Which him is it? Please, for the love of Naga, tell me it’s either the ‘him’ we discussed before or someone equivalent, because I cannot stomach the idea of you being with someone who is below what you deserve.”

“—oh Maribelle, why are you making this so hard for me to talk about!” Lissa was giggling now, her nerves getting the better of her. “Yes it’s who we talked about me giving a shot, he was more than willing to drop everything to start courting me the moment I said I’d consider being with him and, well, it might have been the best idea we’ve ever had!” She brought a hand to cover her face when she saw that Maribelle was now smiling, the happiness she was radiating far too contagious to be ignored.

Their conversation was put on hold as the hostess returned to her post and prepared to take them to their table, but the moment they were both seated in a dark and nearly empty dining room, Maribelle had her hands almost slamming down on the table’s edge in her excitement at the news. “It’s a wonder you’ve managed to keep this from me as long as you have, but now that this cat is out of the bag you are going to tell me everything you can!”

“There’s not much to tell you that I didn’t already!” Her hand still covering her face, Lissa was still giggling, although not nearly as much now that they were in a place where others might overhear and judge her. “We’ve gone on a few dates and it’s gone over super well and I think he’s enjoying that I’ve finally noticed his affections and I’m enjoying that he loves me so much already!”

“He’s always loved you, this hasn’t been a new development at all. Although I am surprised he’s taken you out so many times already, I never took him as someone to move so quickly.” Looking pensive as she leaned back in her seat, Maribelle took careful note of how Lissa’s eyes were shifting around, which was odd given their topic of conversation. “Dearie, there isn’t anything you want to add to your story, is there?”

“W-what, of course not!” Now her giggles had turned to more of an awkward laughter, that was ended when she coughed and uncovered her face. “It’s just that we might have been dating since, uh, when was the last time we saw each other before this, Maribelle? The day we went for coffee, right?” She was given an affirmative nod in response. “So the day after that, heh.”

Leaning back forward, Maribelle had her eyebrows raised as she stared at Lissa in disbelief at what she’d just heard. “Weeks now? You’ve been keeping this secret from me for _weeks_ now? What kind of best friends are we if you’re not immediately telling me all the hot gossip in regards to your romantic life?”

“I’m sorry! I just knew you’ve been focusing on your job and having to take care of things at home, and I didn’t want to be a burden on you with my love life stuff.” Lissa coughed again, bringing the back of her hand to her mouth to stifle the sound. “It wasn’t ever that I didn’t want to tell you, it was just that I didn’t want to make you stress out about me while you were dealing with so much other important stuff.”

“Where does this idea that you’re not important come from?” Maribelle was genuinely curious as to what had gotten her friend into this mindset, as her and Lissa had always considered one another one of the most important things in their lives. “I would drop everything to celebrate you if you asked me to and you know this.”

Giving a small shrug, Lissa tried to explain herself the best she could. “I know I know that, but I just don’t…think it’s right for me to intrude on your married life when you’ve got a lot outside of being married to worry about. Like, if the only thing in your life was being married? Well I like Vaike and all, but I’d make him share you with me because you’re basically a sister to me! But he’s not the only thing you’ve got going on, and I can’t steal your time from work, when work’s already stealing your time from him, and then I can’t steal you from him because of that same reason!”

“And yet you wanted me to immediately add a child into this mix? What would you have done then, that would be three,” Maribelle held up three fingers, which she wiggled, “things distracting me from spending time with you. But instead,” she lowered one of the fingers, “there’s only two things happening in my life, which makes you and your love story the third thing I can focus on.”

“So you want me to call you all the time to tell you just how wonderful my boyfriend is and give you, in specific detail, all the little quirks I’ve come to notice about him?” The question wasn’t serious, as Maribelle knew the man personally and would most likely have noticed much of what Lissa was now noticing years beforehand. When she shook her head, Lissa couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s what I thought! What am I supposed to do to tell you about him? You know everything already!”

“I certainly don’t know everything, particularly about what kind of man he is when in a relationship with him. I’ve only known him since childhood, the same as you, but I’ve never been one to look at him in a brotherly respect as you did for so long.” It was making Maribelle’s heart flutter talking about her best friend being in a relationship with someone who had loved her so much for as long as he had, and she was sure that this discussion was making Lissa get just as fluttery as she was. That was a question she intended on posing, asking about how she was feeling, but the waiter approached the table and started taking their order beginning with their drinks, bringing them a bottle of wine as part of the gimmick of the restaurant.

The two ladies stared at the bottle of the blush wine, but neither of them reached for it until the waiter had headed off to give them some more time with the menu that they hadn’t opened quite yet. “Do you think it’s free to open and drink that?” Lissa asked, her hand creeping towards it slowly. “It looks like it might be pretty good.”  
“We’ll certainly have to ask when he returns with our waters, but if it isn’t free I don’t want to pay a cent for it. It looks like bargain bin wine from the seedy liquor store that Vaike and his friends used to always drag me to when they wanted to have parties.” Maribelle shuddered, bad memories of all the times she’d been accused of being underage in the store hitting her as she mentioned the place. “I cannot believe an upper-class establishment such as this one would carry such a low-quality brand.”

“That probably means it’s free wine then, and neither of us actually drove over here, so you know what that means, don’t you?” Lissa drew her hand back to clasp it within the other one, giving her upper body a quick shimmy as she did. “It means we get to be classy ladies and drink as much free wine as we want to!”

Tutting softly, Maribelle corrected her friend’s misconception. “Classy ladies aren’t ones to take advantage of free wine, they tend to be the ones to pay for the expensive bottles and take half a sip out of one glass of its contents, but I suppose I can forgive your mistake on that. You do seem to be quite excited about the prospect of free wine.” A pause, when she looked at the beaming smile on Lissa’s face and took note of how it looked just as, if not more, happy about the wine as it had when she was talking about her new boyfriend. “Say, are you more enthused about the wine than you were about certain other things?”

“I’m not, I promise! But you know, on a day off like today, it’s honestly just as good to snuggle up to a bottle of free wine as it is to snuggle up to a boyfriend, although if this wine’s as cheap as you think it is maybe Frederick wouldn’t appreciate me making that comparison.” She thought it was funny at the moment, but after the waiter had come back with their waters and two wine glasses, informing them that the bottle was indeed complementary and they could have as many drinks from it as they wanted, she was quick to want to take back what she’d said. This was especially true after she’d had her first glass, the sour taste of the wine not anything like she’d been expecting.

But while Lissa had found disappointment in the free wine. Maribelle had found herself greatly appreciating the taste it had to offer. It wasn’t quite on the level of the cheap wine she remembered from the liquor store’s bargain bin, which she was thankful for because that wine had been disgusting, but rather it was sweet and something she could see herself drinking a lot of. This was a lunch, however, and she couldn’t allow for herself to get inebriated off of the free wine provided before the meal, especially not when they hadn’t even ordered their food yet. By the time they had ordered, she’d taken in a full glass compared to the single sip Lissa had; when they food arrived half an hour later, she’d downed half the bottle on her own and didn’t seem to be showing any signs of the alcohol now coursing through her body.

At least, that had been the case as they’d been sitting there talking about the things that had happened in their lives since the last time they’d gone out together. The moment Maribelle had a plate of food in front of her and was expected to eat it, she couldn’t seem to find her fork, despite it not having moved from the place-setting since their arrival. “Lissa, my best friend in the whole world, where did it go?” she asked multiple times, not a single hint of slurring in her words. “I cannot find it to save my life, and I’m far too classy to eat with my hands at a place like this.”

“Maribelle, it’s seriously right next to your hand. I’ve told you this every time you’ve asked me where it is, why don’t you listen to me about it?” Motioning towards the fork’s location with her own fork, Lissa expected her friend to take her words into consideration and find what she was looking for, but when her own fork was snatched from her hand she was left in a state of shock. “Hey! You took mine!”

“This isn’t yours, you took mine to begin with and now I have it back. For shame, Lissa, why are you stealing things from me when I have done nothing but open up the kindness of my heart to you?” Maribelle sounded like she was about to start crying as she spoke, and Lissa was still staring at her in disbelief that her fork had been taken. “You’re being an ungrateful friend in such a lovely place, why are you doing this to me?”

“I’m being ungrateful? You _took_ my fork and told me I took yours! How’s that me being ungrateful about anything?” Considering getting up and taking Maribelle’s actual fork, sitting just to the side of her arm completely untouched, Lissa shook her head and gave a long sigh, dreading whatever response she was going to be given.

“It just is. Now eat up, ladies like you cannot let their meal go cold when it’s been presented like yours has.” Digging into her own food and not even minding that their dishes were exactly the same, Maribelle caught Lissa’s glare still focused on her after a few bites. “Didn’t you hear me? You need to eat and you need to do it now.”

Almost at the breaking point with this discussion, Lissa took a deep breath in to keep herself calm, reminding herself that she was dealing with a prissy wine-drunk woman. “It’s rather hard to eat when someone’s taken my fork straight out of my hand! What am I supposed to do, dig through my food with my fingers? I’m not an animal! Emmeryn’s ghost would come down here and smack me if I even considered doing that!”

“Huh, I wonder who took your fork,” Maribelle said, genuinely unaware that she was the culprit of the crime. Her arm brushed against something metallic as she went for another bite, which felt odd to her, and when she investigated what it was she found a clean and unused fork sitting right there. She stared at it for what had to have been several minutes, time during which Lissa was still glaring at her, angry that this was happening; once she’d pieced together what had happened she dropped the one she was using and lifted the clean one up, offering it to her friend. “I, ahem, found this for you. Would you be a darling and make good use of it?”

Lissa reached out and grabbed it without hesitation, narrowly missing knocking over the half-empty wine bottle in the middle of the table. “Of _course_ I will, I’d love to get to eat my lunch just as much as you already have been.”

Their meal continued in silence, the waiter checking in on them every so often but neither woman wanting to interact with the other over what had happened. It was odd to Maribelle, as she hadn’t ever gotten to the point of making Lissa stay silent around her, and she wasn’t entirely sure what she had done wrong. As far as her mind would tell her, she hadn’t taken anything from Lissa, and she had provided her with what she’d been looking for, so what was the issue? They were both getting to eat, weren’t they? She would occasionally glance over to check on Lissa to see if she was anywhere close to wanting to speak to her again, but every time she’d find that she couldn’t read her friend’s expression, almost as if she was trying to keep secrets from her.

And if that wasn’t enough to make anger boil up inside of her, she wasn’t sure what else would. “Are you satisfied with ruining this lunch?” she snootily asked, dropping her fork onto her plate with a loud clanging sound, which made Lissa shake her head rapidly, unsure what had brought this on. “You’re making things so awkward, what’s the matter? You were such a chatterbug when we got here, and now, nothing! Get back to talking, your silence isn’t appreciated by me.”

“Excuse you? That’s no way to talk to me when you’re the one who went silent first. Besides, I’m trying to eat and don’t want to be talking rudely with my mouth full. Don’t you see me trying to have some kind of manners?” Lissa heard Maribelle’s _hmph_ that she gave at the response, finding no satisfaction in the answer, and it made her realize that she was going to have to put aside her morals in order to appease her drunken friend. “O-okay, I guess I can forget about eating if it means pleasing you.”

“What’s with that turn in attitude? Aren’t we friends, Lissa? Why are you being like this towards me when I’m doing nothing but being nice to you!” Maribelle was reaching for her wine glass, ready to take another sip of her drink, but when she wrapped her hand around the stem of the glass to pick it up, she felt what seemed like a blade slicing into her hand. She didn’t scream, but instead pulled her hand back to see that she had indeed managed to nick herself on what had to have been a chip in the stem.

“I’d say something just got you back for being so rude to me right now,” Lissa told her, trying not to give even the smallest of smiles at what she’d just seen. “Also, I think it’s a sign that you need to stop drinking. You’re starting to get drunk and we both know it. Just eat your food and let’s get out of here.”

It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, as she’d wanted more of that wine, but Maribelle accepted that Lissa was most likely right about her inebriation. She couldn’t actually feel herself being drunk, but if the person she was there with told her she was, she had to be. Once again they fell into silence, although this time with the intention of wrapping up their meal as quickly as they could, and not long after that they had both finished eating and were waiting on the bill. It was then that they both heard a faint buzzing, which had them both looking for their phones to see if it was either of theirs going off.

When Lissa retrieved her phone and saw that it was a number used for her work that had just called her, her olive skin began to pale before she was jumping to her feet. “I’ll be right back, Maribelle, don’t do anything while I’m gone,” she said, before stepping outside the restaurant to return the call.

“What would I do?” she asked once she was alone, looking around the restaurant at how empty it still was despite them having been there for a while at this point. “It’s not appropriate for a woman of my status to walk out without paying, and I’m still waiting to get to do that. How long does it take to get one measly bill arranged for someone to pay it?”

Tapping her fingers along the table, she watched as the waiter that had been serving her and Lissa walked by several times, never seeming like he was going to stop by to help her out, but when he did eventually come around she decided that she wished he never had. The bill was a lot more than she’d expected the meal to cost, even for just the two of them having a simple entrée and a water each. It wasn’t until she looked closer at the bill to see that they’d charged her for double what the meal should have been, which she was thankful to have noticed before paying but it still meant that she had to wait for the waiter to come back to get it fixed, then for him to bring a replacement check for her to then pay.

She was still in the middle of waiting for him to come back to fix things when Lissa came back into the room, looking just as concerned as she had been when she left. “Despite this being my day off, they’ve called me in because I guess there’s an unusual uptick in patients today and they’re short-staffed. The perks of being younger sister to one of the guys in charge, am I right?” She came to Maribelle’s side and gave her friend a quick hug. “We’ll have to do this again sometime soon, it’s been really nice to have a fancy day out with you, even if it’s been cut short. Maybe next time I’ll have more to tell you about what’s going on between me and Frederick, hm?”

“You’re not allowed to leave,” Maribelle told her, sounding serious. “I’m forbidding you from going in to work on your day off.”

“I wish that’s how it worked, because I’d love to get to hang out with you after this, but it’s not how it works. There’s always a next time, I promise!” They gave farewell cheek-kisses before she was off, leaving Maribelle to remain sitting there at the mercy of the waiter who was taking his sweet time coming back to the table. She was there, by herself, for over an hour more until everything was settled, but even then she left him a decent amount of money as a tip—making sure to write on the receipt that it was in exchange for the best bottle of wine she’d ever had.

She even tried taking the rest of the bottle with her but was stopped at the door by the hostess, who let her know that if she wanted to take it home she’d have to pay for it. As she didn’t want to pay even more money than she had, she relinquished the bottle and walked outside into the afternoon sun empty-handed, but with the mindset that she was going to get herself home and then beg her husband to go get her some wine like what she’d been drinking. She’d have done it herself, but the money factor came into play once more and she wasn’t going to keep spending when now he could do it for her.

That then brought another issue to light: she really shouldn’t have been taking herself home while as inebriated as she was. She wasn’t exactly super skinny, but half a bottle of wine was still far too much alcohol for her body to handle at one time, and she knew that if she got in any kind of trouble on her way home she wouldn’t have had any way to defend herself. What was she going to do, break the law she’d studied for so long and potentially cause herself to lose her job, all over a lunch that had ended up going wrong in the end?

No, of course she wasn’t, that would have been the single stupidest thing she could have done at that point. She was going to call her husband and have him come pick her up, therefore ending the day without his involvement a lot quicker than either of them had expected. But, like the last time she’d tried calling him, she wasn’t able to get an answer and was faced with the reality that his phone was most likely shut off for some reason, but whatever that reason was she wasn’t sure. The worst-case scenario came to mind, that he’d managed to hurt himself again and was back at the hospital, but she had enough faith in him to know that he would have said something if he’d gotten hurt.

She slumped against the front wall of the restaurant, trying to figure out what to do in this situation she found herself in. Calling one of the other lawyers in her office would make them see that she was responsible and wasn’t going to endanger herself or others when it came to making drunk decisions, but at the same time it would let them know she had a weakness in the form of cheap wine. Calling Lissa and asking her to send someone was also possible, but she most likely was too focused on getting ready to get into work to actually do anything about it.

There weren’t ever many times that Maribelle found herself feeling hopeless about a situation, but this was most definitely one of them, and she needed to have a stroke of luck fall her way to make it possible for her to do anything. Even though luck wasn’t a real thing and everything that was going on was a product of individual circumstance.

She ended up going over to the mall to spend time, until she either sobered up and could be trusted to make it home, or until Vaike called her back so she could let him know where she was. It wasn’t far from the restaurant, and it was fairly empty given that most of the stores inside it had been closed for years. There was, and always had been, a nice little bookstore right inside the main entrance that she liked finding herself getting lost in, and while going into a bookstore while drunk wasn’t the best idea, she figured that finding something good to read to pass the time might just have been the best course of action.

In the hours between arrival and her phone going off with her husband calling her to ask her where she’d wandered off to, she had found no less than five books about starting and raising a family and had skimmed through them all. This wasn’t her normal reading activity, but something about the accidental first book she’d found had planted a seed in her mind, one that she’d been trying so hard to keep from getting planted in the first place. She’d been at her job for weeks now, she could start _thinking_ about that whole family thing, couldn’t she?

After he’d managed to find her and come pick her up, the car ride home that day had been spent with Vaike laughing about how Maribelle hadn’t trusted herself to get home, yet didn’t want to bother anyone with asking to retrieve her. Even if she’d been serious about going down a certain line of thinking, she wasn’t going to give it a genuine start when she was being treated this way. But rides like that only happened when she thought she was being high and mighty by not “burdening” someone with her needs, and she knew that it wasn’t going to be every day that she had her husband laughing at her for something that she did.

Within a few days she was slipping into that mindset, the smallest things getting her started on thinking about what it would be like to add a child into their lives. Her biggest inspiration was her casefiles she was working with, the mentions of horrible parenting and harmed children making her wonder if they’d be capable of being infinitely better than any of these people were (and she was certain they would be). That wasn’t the only place she started thinking about families from, however, and as quickly as the thoughts had come upon her they developed into constants in her life, triggered whenever she’d see ads for something child-related or even seeing a happy family walking down the street as she headed out around town.

Thinking about it was one thing, but approaching it as an actual possibility was something else entirely, and even if her mind was telling her it was worth a shot, she knew deep down that it was for the best if everything stayed as it was at the moment. She was still really new to her job position and there wasn’t any guarantee that starting a family wouldn’t ruin that. There was also the issue of this being entirely _her_ line of thinking, and she couldn’t be positive that Vaike had even considered anything like this, especially since he seemed to really enjoy their house being occupied by only the two of them. Adding someone else into their lives would ruin his freedom, and potentially his happiness, and if there was one thing Maribelle didn’t want to do it was ruin what made him happy.

So that had been the end of that for the moment, there wasn’t really room in their lives to add a potential child and if they were going to, it was going to have to come in the future after they’d both agreed on it. Of course, Maribelle was aware she could have been making a huge mistake by assuming that he wasn’t thinking about the same things she was, but the only way she could come up with to confirm or deny that was to be blunt about it with him, and that didn’t sound like it would end well for her either way.

As she thought longer on that issue, she realized that there might, in fact, have been a different way to approach it after all: putting things into a heated moment and seeing what came from it. If there wasn’t any time to really think about what was being said, and it was all done on gut reactions, that meant that whatever happened had to be what his overwhelming opinion was. What, exactly, there was that she could do to get things heated, that was something else she’d have to think about—except not really, because she knew the _best_ way to get Vaike to admit to anything that he was thinking, she’d done it to him many times before in this exact same manner.

Why, she was positive his first proposal had been given in the exact setting she was thinking up, and that had led to great things for them. So all she needed to was replicate that situation, and then she’d get her answer with little tooth-pulling and a lot of fun for them both.

The plan came into action on the next day she was free that he wasn’t. While she could have done it any time she was home for even a little bit while he was out, she figured having the whole afternoon to get things ready was better than having just a few minutes. This did come at the trade-off of having to make sure she didn’t make plans with any friends that day, and as a social butterfly it did pain her to cut herself off from everyone, but what she was plotting was honestly too tempting to resist when she got down to it. Even if it came up a bust for what she’d been considering, there was going to be a lot of other things that would make the evening one they would most likely never forget.

When he’d left to go do some kind of renovation work on someone else’s house, Vaike had asked her if she was going to be going out and having fun without him that day. “Nope, I’m planning on lounging around here _all_ day,” she replied, looking around at the messy and disorganized front room to their home before grimacing. “Or maybe I’ll clean up a bit, like a good housewife would. I…am a good housewife, aren’t I?”

“When ya try, y’sure are,” he told her, kissing her forehead before heading out to work. The moment she was sure he wouldn’t see or hear her, she clapped her hands together loudly and looked at the current state of the room once more, debating if she wanted to lounge around as planned or if she wanted to clean.

No one ever actually wants to clean, she decided, and that was why she needed to do it. What if company had decided to come over to their place to kill time with her that day? She’d be embarrassed to show this disaster of a house to Lissa, and Lissa was her closest and most understanding friend in the world. Anyone else walking in at that moment would be nothing short of a nightmare. And so the cleaning began, Maribelle working as fast as she could to make the house look even remotely presentable, something that was difficult as she was really wishing she could do anything else aside from clean up messes that, at most, were half hers.

That was another nail in the coffin in regards to starting a family: if she couldn’t handle cleaning up after herself and her husband, how could she think about wanting to clean up after a child who wouldn’t know better? No, she would teach any child of hers to be a prim and proper person, someone that wouldn’t allow for things to get as disastrous as the house currently had gotten. She’d raise a child who would cringe at dirty homes and do their part to keep them as neat as possible—despite the fact that she, with her busy work schedule, had turned a blind eye to all the messiness under her own roof.

“I’m starting to believe that maybe my day off is going to be spent working, not relaxing,” she mused after getting herself knee-deep in reorganizing cluttered shelves and tossing out everything unnecessary that they’d hoarded since the last time the house was cleaned. “And if I’m not relaxing, then when Vaike gets home…ugh! I’m not going to be _ready_ for what I have prepared for him!”

Remembering what she was working towards made her rethink getting too much more wrapped up in cleaning, but by that point it was simply too late to stop what she’d started. The house was going to have to be spotless before she could call it done, or else she’d focus more on that than the million other things she was dwelling on at the moment, and that meant that if she was caught in the act of cleaning when her husband got home she’d just have to try her plan out another day. Of course, there were some shortcuts she could take to make the cleaning happen quicker, including broad sweeps of throwing everything away and shoving clutter into hidden nooks and crannies, shortcuts she took when she looked at the clock and saw that more of the day had slipped away than she’d expected.

With the house cleaner than it had been that morning, although not by much, Maribelle knew that she was going to be racing against time to get everything ready for when Vaike came home that evening, but she was going to have to sacrifice perfection for getting it done. Since she’d already pushed aside making things perfect when cleaning, she decided that she could do it again when it came to what she was planning: “I figured I would have at least an hour or so to doll myself up, but perhaps a more natural look will be necessary for tonight’s festivities. After all, maybe it’ll be for the best if…” She trailed off as she stopped in front of a full-length mirror that hung in the hallway to the bedroom, her hand touching one of the clips in her hair. “I won’t have time to put these back in properly, I don’t think. But cleaning worked up a bit of a sweat, I cannot allow myself to stay dirty right now.”

Her gaze not breaking from her reflection, she snapped the extension out of the rest of her hair, the entire section of ringlets coming out without a struggle. Moving it into her other hand, she then took out the rest of her long curls, leaving her staring at a woman with much shorter hair than she ever let anyone see her with. “It would be lovely if I could make magic with my natural hair, but a little bit of manipulation is necessary sometimes. No matter, the only person seeing me tonight has seen me without clip-ins before, he won’t mind what my hair looks like.”

Blowing a kiss at her reflection, she made her way into her bedroom, setting the ringlets on the end of the bed before breaking into her closet, looking for something in particular that she knew she hadn’t unpacked since moving into the house. That was another time-wasting experience, but she successfully found a small, plastic container hidden in the bottom of a box of shoes and took it (and the hair extensions) with her into the bathroom, setting everything on the counter before undressing and getting into the shower to cleanse herself just like she had her house.

Slipping into the stream of hot water was a mistake on her behalf, as she lost track of time as she was in the shower, not knowing how long she’d been in there until she felt her fingers getting more wrinkly than usual. With a gasp, she rushed through washing herself, skipping over her hair entirely for the sake of time, and when she emerged into the steam-filled bathroom her first motion (after grabbing a towel to dry her arms and face) was to check her phone to see what time it was.

The issue there was that she hadn’t brought her phone in with her, and she wasn’t going to traverse the house in nothing but a towel, dripping water everywhere. “Please, for Naga’s sake, let there still be time before he gets home,” she begged, working to dry herself off exclusively through patting her skin down. Once she wasn’t covered in water she moved to the next step of what she wanted to do, opening up the container she’d found and pulling out everything that was in it to see what she was going to choose to wear. The collection of frilled lingerie was something she’d been saving up for a long time, always wanting to wear it when the mood felt the most right; this wasn’t an instance of her thinking there was a mood to preserve, though, but rather a mood she needed to set up.

“I haven’t tried some of this on since I bought it,” she realized upon pulling the last undergarment out of the container, laying it with its lacy companion. “What if none of it fits? What if I’ve made a fool out of myself, wanting to be seductive while not having anything to do so in?” She had already cast aside the towel she’d been using, now standing in the bathroom completely nude and exposed, except for when she held pieces up to herself to see if they were what she wanted to try on. “No, no, that’s no way to think right now! There’s bound to be something that fits, and if there isn’t…well, then, there’s the old reliable piece in my dresser I can go grab.”

Thinking about the silky gown that barely covered everything that it needed to was sending shivers down Maribelle’s spine, and she wasn’t even the one that was supposed to be turned on by it. She just happened to like how she looked when she wore it, feeling empowered whenever she saw the light pink silk clashing against her skin—and enjoying it more when she felt it being taken off of her and thrown to the side. _Now_ she really had shivers going, her whole body tensing up at the thought of being so alluring that someone was willing to strip her before going down on her.

This wasn’t the time to get distracted by those thoughts, she wasn’t going to get to experience that again if she wasn’t prepared for it and that meant she needed to decide what she was going to wear for the occasion. Slowly she worked her way through what all she’d laid out, putting articles back into the container because they seemed to be too tame, or because they didn’t fit her exactly like she hoped they would (typically just tight enough to not make sliding them off easy, but there were a couple bralettes that were just too big to be attractive). The final verdict was to wear a simple white bralette and a matching pair of panties that was adorned with small bows, hugging her body just below her hip bones and ready to slide off at just the slightest tug.

She cleared off part of the mirror to admire herself in it once she had put the articles on, turning to the side to see how she looked from that angle before facing the mirror head-on. “I could have pulled this off better before getting married, I’m afraid, but such is life I suppose,” she said, adjusting how her top was situated as she continued looking at herself, enjoying how what she’d chosen to wear was so vibrant against her skin, but not liking that it seemed to have shrunk ever-so-slightly since the last time she’d put it on. “My only regret now is not trying this on more often, I could’ve worked to stay toned and beautiful if I’d bothered to take the time to notice…”

She shook her head, running her hands over the sides of her body to feel her hourglass-like figure underneath them. “I’m sure I’m fine, I must be overreacting about how I look. It’s just been so long since I stripped down like this for the sake of something sensual, I’m just being critical of myself.” Inhaling deeply, she turned her attention to doing something with her hair, which had been dampened in the shower and hadn’t done much in the way of drying since she’d gotten out. Running her fingers through it to situate it was all she felt she could do, as she was certain there wasn’t enough time to clip her long extensions back into it, but the sight of a large bow similar to the ones adorning her underwear caught her eye. That was something she could make work out for her, and quickly, and so she pinned back a fair amount of her hair with the bow before calling it good.

For anyone else, that would have been enough preparation for an experience like the one Maribelle was planning, but she wasn’t quite done with readying herself. The last piece she was looking for was still in her dresser across the bedroom, tucked away even behind her favorite negligee that she frequently wore in these situations. It made sense, given that they were frequently worn together, but she was glad she was giving trying out something new a shot with her current get-up, in conjunction with the thigh-high stockings she had dug out of the drawer and was about to slide on. There had been many an evening where she’d ended up in nothing _but_ those stockings, and she wouldn’t complain if that was how the current night ended up.

She was in the process of getting the second stocking on when she heard a door slam somewhere else in the house, followed by a loud exclamation of arrival from her dear husband. Gasping as she realized she wasn’t quite ready to face him, she did the first thing she could think of and bolted back to the bathroom, locking the door on herself once she was inside. Seconds later, the bedroom door came open and she could hear the sound of approaching footsteps over her own breathing.

“Maribelle, ya in here? House looks nice, but it’s kinda weird not seein’ ya out there proud ‘a your work,” Vaike said, just loud enough that she could tell he was right on the other side of the bathroom door. “Did somethin’ happen? There wasn’t an accident or anythin’ like that, was there?”

“Not at all, I’m just, er, freshening myself up after all that work I did,” she lied in response, hoping that his next words wouldn’t be something along the lines of him wanting to do the same. Naturally, she had that hope because that was, in fact, what he said back at her, asking her to come out of the bathroom so he could hop in for a quick shower. “No! I mean, no, I haven’t even dried off yet, it’s bound to be cold if you open the door, you know how it is.”

“Can’t say I do know, but that’s fine. There’s a guest shower in the house I can try out, if that’s what ya really want from me.” He was taking her insistence of not coming out in stride, laughing as he waited for her to tell him to go ahead and do that. Her awkward chuckle was assuring to him, rather than suspicious. “I get it now, don’t worry. Women are just weird sometimes, ain’t gonna question it.”

She leaned against the door, using it as a prop to balance herself as she pulled the other stocking on—if he wasn’t claiming to need to shower for himself, she would have been ready for the reveal, but he clearly wasn’t ready for it. “Just go take your shower, I’ll be waiting for you in our room when you’re done. We need to have a lovely little chat about something that’s been on my mind.”

There it was, mention of something pressing that needed to happen, and the lack of explanation was concerning to Vaike. “Y’got it, I’ll be quicker than anythin’. Sounds like it might be somethin’ important if you’re actually makin’ me get clean ‘fore you’ll tell me it.”

Maribelle didn’t consider the coast to be clear and him to be gone until she heard him close the door to the bedroom, calling at her once he’d done that to let her know he’d be “back in a flash”. Upon exiting the bathroom once more, she jumped up onto the bed and positioned herself in such a way that she considered to be the most attractive, laying on her side so that her curves seemed to be more prominent than usual. Now it was time to wait for him to come back, to see the lovely surprise she’d set up for him.

The position she’d taken on grew tiresome to maintain after a few minutes, which meant that she had to either suffer through it or find something else to do that was equally as seductive. She decided she’d rather not have her side fall numb while resting there, so she sat up and scoped out the room, trying to decide if what she’d do instead; her eyes fell onto a lacy parasol that was more pink than white, but the color of it wouldn’t matter when it would be nothing more than a tool for her performance. She’d done some…less than savory things while holding that parasol, and it was an honest miracle that it hadn’t been snapped or damaged in any way with some of the rough activities she’d put it through.

Hopping off the bed to grab the parasol, Maribelle inspected it to make sure it was still, in fact, not damaged, before swinging it up over her shoulder, letting it rest on her as she started to walk the length of the room. “I wasn’t anticipating any rough behaviors today, but plans can always be changed,” she reminded herself, every step with her stockings on sending strange sensations through her legs. She was sure she’d misstep and slip, traction not a thing with the stocking on, and so she had to make sure she was walking as carefully as she could be.

Even the most care she could commit to wasn’t enough to keep her from jumping in surprise when she heard the bedroom door open up, throwing herself back into the wall she’d been walking by. “Why’re ya still in here now?” Vaike asked, not having entered the room but rather remaining right on the other side of the door. “I know ya said t’meet ya here once I was done, but it just doesn’t make sense. Everythin’ okay?”

“Yes, yes of course it is.” Her reply was given through gritted teeth, slightly frustrated that he hadn’t just barged in to make his presence known. At least if he was going to startle her, he should have done it in a complete manner, not this half-present one. “Now will you please enter the room properly so we can speak like the grown adults we are?”

“I mean, if ya say so,” he answered, opening the door further and making it exactly one step further into the room before he looked at her, having to do a doubletake at the scantily-clad woman waiting there for him. “O-oh, good gods Maribelle, what’s up with this? When ya said ya wanted t’talk, I figured ya meant with all clothes on.”

She was searching for a way to reply, but at the same time he’d begun to focus on her, she’d done the same to him, her eyes searching all over his mostly-nude body. He must have forgotten to take clean clothes into the guest bathroom with him when he’d gone to shower, which made what she’d done a bit awkward given that they both had plenty of exposed skin to share with each other. “I…suppose I should have been a bit clearer about what I meant for this moment,” she conceded, biting her lip as she watched him inch closer to her. “It’s nothing bad, I would never waste this beauty on a bad situation.”

“Damn, if it had been somethin’ bad I’d have at least gotten a show from it, and y’know what everyone says, right?” There wasn’t any response from her, allowing for him to come closer, reaching out towards her. “They say that sometimes it’s the journey that’s worth it, not the destination, and if ya were givin’ me a show and a talkin’-to, I’d call that show the journey.”

His attempt at being seductive and flirty was falling flat, but Maribelle wasn’t listening to what he was saying. She was focused entirely on everything about him that wasn’t his voice, from his broad shoulders to his deep, dark arms, from his relatively-toned abdomen all the way down to his muscular legs, nothing in-between not catching her eye as she looked. But she wasn’t paying attention to how close he was getting, and when he brushed up against her she forgot that she’d been wanting him to do exactly that, and she swung at him with the parasol she was still holding.

It hit him in the arm, which didn’t faze him beyond a single glance towards the spot she’d smacked. “We playin’ rough now?” he asked, smiling at her with his wild, goofy grin that had her almost melting on the spot. “That’s okay, there ain’t ever a bad time for some roughhousin’ when we’re together.”

“I beg you, don’t try anything on me until I’ve said what I need to say!” Poised to smack him with the parasol again, Maribelle was taken by surprise as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from against the wall, setting her on the edge of the bed before pushing her backwards. “I just said I _beg_ you, that means listen to me!”

“And what are ya gonna do t’get me t’listen? Beggin’ is only gonna get ya nowhere, y’know. Er, I mean, it is gonna get ya somewhere, but it ain’t the somewhere I think you’re thinkin’ it’ll be.” That grin hadn’t faded even after he’d put her on the bed, and he was hovering over her, hands on the bed next to her legs as he was leaning in closer, closer, until—in a moment of panic she whacked him with the parasol again, hitting him in the neck. “Hey! What was that for? This is somethin’ ya usually love!”

“I recognize that, but this isn’t the time!” Maribelle hit him with the parasol again, actual force in her swing, and he backed off, raising his arms and stepping away. “When I put on this attire I suppose I forgot that I’d become irresistible to you, but I did have the faith that you’d be able to control yourself long enough for us to discuss something before we go anywhere beyond looks.”

Sighing, Vaike turned his back to her, shifting his weight between his feet as he stood there. “Well, get t’talkin’, I dunno know how long I’ll be able t’take ya seriously knowin’ that you’re dressed like that for me.”

“I’m glad you’ve decided you’ll listen to me.” Giving his back a playful hit with the parasol, she kicked herself backwards on the bed, laying down and stretching her upper body out as she thought about what she needed to say. “Now, to the important business, I’m sure you know that, now that we’re married, people expect certain things of us.”

“We’ve been married for a while now, but go on,” he replied, almost turning his head back to look at her but stopping himself at the last second, visibly tensing up as he did. “You ain’t about t’tell me that someone ya work with has been tellin’ ya lies about what married people do, are ya?”

“Gods no, I have enough sense about me to know better than to listen to those lies.” She thought about some of the things she had heard her fellow lawyers talk about in their free time, most of which was vague references to specific cases they’d worked. Her mind slipped back to some of her own cases, the reason that she’d become dedicated to wanting to be a better parent than any of those people, and she took in a deep breath before starting with, “However, someone in our lives has constantly and rather forcefully continued suggesting we do something, and perhaps it’s time that we give her suggestion a shot.”

“You’re talkin’ ‘bout what Lissa keeps sayin’, there’s no reason t’be shady ‘bout it.” The tenseness became more visible, Vaike’s whole body starting to stiffen as he thought about what he knew of the situation. “I can’t say I’m agreein’ with you on what we should do, if you’re bein’ serious ‘bout this.”

Blinking a few times in surprise that he’d caught onto what she was talking about before she’d flat-out said it, Maribelle sat back up and whacked him with the parasol again. “No, that isn’t the answer you’re supposed to give me. You’re supposed to say you’ll do whatever it takes to make your dear, precious, and lovely wife happy, and if that’s what she wants, that’s what she gets.”

“Except what if it ain’t what I want, huh?” His rebuttal earned him a couple more hits, each blow making him a bit angrier at what was being suggested. “C’mon, Maribelle, ya can’t just assume that I’m down for goin’ along with that! If I was, don’t ya think we’d have gotten somewhere already?”

“Well, no, actually.” Resisting the urge to smack him again when he looked angrily over his shoulder at her, she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “Remember the whole ‘new job’ thing that dictated every action we took prior to this? Now that I’ve settle into my routine, we can make those moves that we resisted before.”

“Except we aren’t gonna, ‘cause I think you’re just tryin’ t’please your friends rather than yourself! Ya can’t let people get into your head like this!” Turning back around to face her properly, Vaike saw that she was about to swing the parasol at him once more; rather than let it hit him yet another time, he reached to grab it to put a stop to the berating. His hand made contact with the fabric for a second, before the parasol popped open, one of its end tips slicing along his arm as it opened up, while a second tip ran across Maribelle’s exposed stomach, up her neck and stopping once it hit her chin.

They stared at each other in an eerie silence for a couple of moments, him bringing his other hand to his arm to see what damage had been done as she did the same with her free hand under the cover of the parasol. “It’s never come open like that before,” she mumbled, her fingertips finding a raised cut from where it had hit her but feeling no blood. “It must have realized you were being a prick and decided to take matters into its own hands.”

“A prick? Me? What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout, I was just standin’ my ground!” Also having found no blood, Vaike pushed the canopy of the parasol out of the way, knocking the entire thing out of Maribelle’s hand that was only loosely gripping it at that point. “Ya think that, just ‘cause ya want somethin’ it means I want it too, and guess what? That ain’t how it works around here all the time. For some things, sure, but for somethin’ like _this_? You’re crazy.”

“Vaike, my love, do you even know what it is we’re talking about?” Having lost the parasol hadn’t even bothered Maribelle, her mind having moved away from getting her way in a seductive manner to just getting her way at all. “If you’re making this big of a deal over something and you don’t know what it is, I’m going to—”

“I told ya, you’re talkin’ ‘bout what Lissa keeps bringin’ up. I don’t know if ya know this or not, but I probably see more ‘a her than you do, thanks t’your work hours and her always comin’ ‘round lookin’ for ya. Me and her have had some nice, long talks ‘bout how she thinks we’re holdin’ off on startin’ a family and that we need t’get on that.” He sighed, bringing his cut arm up to scratch the back of his head. “I just…don’t think it’s right for us t’be listenin’ t’her about it, y’know?”

Thoughts of all the reasons why listening to someone inexperienced in love and even less experienced in marriage was a bad idea crossed Maribelle’s mind, but she shook them off as she reminded herself that this was her best friend making these suggestions. “I fail to see why that’s a valid excuse. I think we’re ready for that challenge, and you should think so too.”

“I just can’t, sorry. Look, if ya gimme a year or somethin’ t’think on it, maybe that’ll change my mind on it, but right now? We’re stayin’ childless, and if anythin’ happens that changes _that_ , I’ll know you’re out there doin’ dirty things behind my back.” The look of determination on Vaike’s face told Maribelle that pressing further was just going to cause more issues than she already had with this, yet there were a couple of things she wanted to address before they moved on. As she opened her mouth to bring up the first one, he shook his head. “No means no, so drop it, will ya?”

“You’re not going to allow me to get a single word in on this, so I suppose I will have to.” That was as far from the truth as Maribelle could have painted things, as she had been given ample time to state her case and try to convince him, but she’d squandered it with her attempts at seduction. “Now, when you say a say a _year_ , do you mean an actual year? A year from our wedding date? Specifics please, my dear.”

“This ain’t the time for specifics, I’ll bring it up with ya again whenever I’m ready for it.” He sighed, before sitting down on the bed next to her after stepping around the still-opened parasol. “Which don’t even think that’ll be right now, ‘cause it won’t be.”

She glanced at him, swallowing down the thought she’d had to continue badgering him about everything and nodding. “I understand, you do have every right to state your opinion on the matter. What a shame, though, I was really hoping you’d agree with me and we could therefore make use of our evening in a…productive matter.”

“It’s kinda early t’be even considerin’ doin’ anything like that, unless you’re expectin’ us t’do nothin’ else all night,” he told her, placing a hand on her shoulder and running it up her neck until his fingers were resting on her throat, feeling the cut she’d sustained in the mishap. “Which, knowin’ ya, that isn’t it at all. C’mon, let’s get cleaned up and do somethin’ with our time together, and maybe come back t’the dress-up and the time in the bedroom before bed.”

It wasn’t every day that Vaike suggested something that made sense and was a better plan than what Maribelle herself had, but she couldn’t deny that he was right overall. Even if she thought he was being difficult with certain other aspects, one thing was for sure: he knew how to talk her out of her big-headed plans in some healthy way, even if his justification for it was to take care of an injury she’d received because of him in the first place.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this is the part where I say that this "parasol whipping" scene is the whole reason this fic exists, but I've made it so that the fic is so much more than just this. With that out there, I don't have a set schedule for the next chapter, but it'll get posted once I'm halfway-ish through the following one, and so on and so forth.


	3. The Rabbit's Foot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: abuse and child death

The consideration period really did last nearly a year, time that Maribelle spent trying to distance herself from the fact that she’d ever brought the idea up in the first place. She began to bury herself in her work, taking on case after case that focused more on older children and less on the young ones, to stop herself from feeling tempted. It was appreciated, as the lawyers she worked with tended to enjoy cases with young clients over the older ones, so her moving into the difficult role of speaking for children who liked to speak for themselves was appreciated by everyone involved.

Those voices being heard was not always a pleasant experience, though, as she found out sometime during the springtime, after having made the move to representing the older children late that fall. She was sitting in a hospital room with a battered young boy, who was recounting the harrowing abuse he’d experienced at the hands of a guardian, when the fact that she was supposed to fight for him to find freedom hit her much like a truck. She’d broken down into tears, losing all professionalism as she sniffled and tried to keep a straight face for the sake of the child she was listening to. That night she went home and cried over the fact that she wasn’t able to take away what _had_ happened to the boy, and on her next day off she went back to the hospital to see if he was still there.

He wasn’t, the very guardian that had been accused of abusing him had been able to take him home as there wasn’t any solid evidence that they’d been responsible for what had happened, at least not up front. “It’s not fair, he should still be in here and I should be able to ask him more about what had happened,” she said to the person who’d accompanied her to the now-empty room. “Why did you let them discharge him?”

“My hands were tied, unfortunately,” Panne replied, a grim expression on her face. “Holding him without his guardian’s consent or without the word of law forcing him to stay would raise lawsuits I cannot bring upon this hospital. It was not my decision to let him leave, and if I had been given the choice I would have kept him, those injuries he sustained were not from a simple schoolyard brawl as was claimed.”

“You looked at him for yourself?” That was something unexpected, as Maribelle had assumed that the head of the wing would be too busy with day-to-day business to check on the patients in their care. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

“He was a child who was hurt by someone in a position of power over him, I felt compelled to know what his story was. He didn’t speak at length about what had happened, but after reviewing his charts…” She trailed off as a nurse down the hall started calling her name, distracting her from the point she’d been making. It was frustrating to Maribelle to lose information like that, but it couldn’t have been helped at that point, and pursuing her for the sake of trying to find out more was most likely a violation of some law or another.

That case haunted Maribelle’s mind for weeks, the sight of the young boy in the hospital bed the last thing she’d think of as she fell asleep every night. Eventually she got the closure that she’d been dreading, that he’d been admitted with worse injuries than before and needed legal assistance to get out of the pit, but by that point she’d accepted that there was nothing she could do short of removing the kid from his current home to save him. That _was_ what she had to do, but the foster system in Ylisse was nothing short of a nightmare, and as someone so emotionally invested in the case she couldn’t allow herself to step in more than she already had.

Pulling him out of his home and putting him into a foster home was the only option and while he seemed thankful to know he wasn’t going back with his abusive guardian, Maribelle felt that she was going to now be haunted by the deadly, hate-filled glare of said guardian as she read them their rights on the matter. She wasn’t going to bring it up with her husband, because she didn’t like when Vaike ranted at her about his work so she wouldn’t force him to listen to her doing the same, but she needed to vent it at someone. Lissa…talking to Lissa about anything that was serious wasn’t anything that went over well, even if her friend had the best intentions when she got started on things.

There was one person that she figured would understand her perspective on the situation, and she was right, to a point. “If you needed to rehome the child, why go straight to foster care? Why not see if you personally know anyone who would be interested in caring for him?” Panne asked, sitting at the desk in her office, with Maribelle standing on the other side, wringing her hands as she tried thinking up an answer. “Not saying that I would be, naturally, but at my last hospital the lawyers were always trying to keep battered children under the protection of the nurses who cared for them when they needed it.”

“It wasn’t an option I had available to me in the moment,” she ended up replying, subverting the situation from their last conversation. “We needed to get him out of his home and somewhere safe immediately, before a third hospitalization happened, and that meant throwing him into the system without any searching for a perfect fit. It’s an ugly choice but it’s the only one my superiors thought was acceptable, given the circumstances.”

“The circumstances? I see what you mean.” Sighing, Panne rose from her seat, slamming her hands down on the desk as she stood. “It’s a shame that this world expects women like us to make such harrowing and difficult calls on a moment’s notice, together we could have done better for that boy had we been allowed to do so.”

“You checked in on him because you didn’t believe his story, you cared enough to know that he needed to be saved. That’s something that the system tried to brush under the rug, that’s not fair to him and it’s upsetting to know that it happened.” There was something almost unbelievable about seeing this high-ranking woman standing at her desk, hitting her hands on the wood every few seconds as they spoke, but Maribelle wasn’t going to bring that up. Right now, they were talking about a child they’d almost failed, who’d been allowed to be saved by something bad happening to him twice. “You had my back on this case, you watched for him when I couldn’t. Why is that?”

“I have a fondness for children, nothing more.” Her hands were being lifted from the desk, Panne moving them to collect all of her long, double-braided hair over one shoulder, which she kept running her hands over once she had it all. “Why else would I have taken on such a role in life, head of a pediatrics wing for a hospital that sees its fair share of child injuries and fatalities? Why would I have studied and practiced and interned to get to where I am? I want to see no child suffer, I want to see no child face pain they don’t deserve.”

Watching her mess with her hair, Maribelle went to mirror her in doing the same, but found that she’d put her extension clips in higher than normal, into a single ponytail of loosely-curled ringlets that she couldn’t exactly play with. “That’s why I went into law, to defend those same children you want to keep from suffering. I guess we’re similar in that respect?”

“Similar, yes, but I would not consider us anywhere close to the same.” Tying the ends of the two braids together as she spoke, Panne closed her eyes before continuing on talking. “We’re on two very different paths, I would consider you closer to the same as my husband than myself, due to you both being enamored with following the law, but as for you and me? It’s unrealistic to make that comparison.”

“That’s fair, I understand what you’re getting at.” While this conversation had started as a means for Maribelle to get more insight as to why Panne had acted how she had in regards to the abused child, she was starting to realize that she wasn’t going to get more about it than she had simply because there wasn’t any more to be said. Instead, she was getting glimpses into the person behind the workplace exterior she’d gotten to become friendly with, revelations that she wasn’t sure she was ever going to get closure to.

In order to not make things any more awkward than they already were, she wrapped up the conversation with a small bowing gesture and a thanks for allowing the talk to happen, before scurrying out of the office. The last thing she saw on the inside was Panne standing there, eyes reopened and staring out into nothing, her hands no longer re-braiding her hair but rather one of them running alongside the inside of her other arm. Upon exiting the office, Maribelle glanced at the nameplate that hung beside the door, her mind fixating on the titles that came with Panne’s name and how different they were than anything she’d receive as a lawyer, and with that now on her mind she left the office area entirely, walking the halls of the pediatric wing by herself instead.

Most of the rooms were empty, a thankful sign as it meant few children were in a place of suffering, but as she passed by different rooms visions of clients past came back to greet her. Every time she’d met someone in one of these rooms, looking for explanations for a solid defense, she’d taken a mental note of what room number it was, but she hadn’t ever done it intentionally. It was always a knee-jerk reaction to seeing a client in their hospital room, and now she was regretting ever doing it in the first place. This became overwhelmingly clear when she turned down the hall of the severely-abused boy’s former room and could feel her eyes welling up with tears. Rather than face those memories and thoughts of failure, she chose to leave the hospital and head home instead.

This wasn’t the first time a case she’d had to deal with impacted her so deeply, and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last, but she hadn’t yet learned how to emotionally distance herself from everything going on. That would come in time, after other failures and missed opportunities happened right in front of her face, crying children who needed so much better losing their chance to get what they wanted, abusive parents and guardians not having to lose anything because there wasn’t enough to strip them of their rights, or even kids being shuffled into foster care rather than being properly rehomed. With every hard loss that involved physical ailments, Maribelle would find herself wandering the hospital, trying to ask herself what went wrong and what she could have done to change things.

Most of the time, she walked alone, but there were times where Panne would join her, giving her someone to talk everything through with. They couldn’t say all the details they both had, given confidentiality rules and whatnot, but they both had a solid understanding of what the other had witnessed and had to cope with in failing to properly save an abused child in some way. Some friendships were forged in common interests, others in common experiences, but theirs was forged in an unspoken understanding of pain, and as long as they were both in their positions, they would always have someone who had their back.

Halfway through the summer, the discussion that Maribelle had tried starting with her husband came back up, Vaike feeling like he’d had enough time to think about what she wanted to make a good decision on it. He wasn’t approaching her with open arms about anything, but his specific words, that “whatever was gonna happen was gonna happen anyway”, showed that he wasn’t going to put up a fight against her desires anymore. The next time she saw Panne after that had been said, she stealthily dropped that news at her, expecting a joyful reaction in return.

Instead, she got a blank stare, complete with slow blinking, as Panne tried understanding what it was Maribelle was so happy about. “I fail to see why you would be excited to start a family, given your line of work with abused children. Wouldn’t raising a child of your own make you feel worse for the kids you cannot save? Kids that could have been yours if you’d done things differently, yet weren’t?”

“I wouldn’t think so, it’ll teach me how to treat my clients even better though, and we could always use training in showing kindness to children.” Maribelle spoke with a smile, even if Panne was still staring blankly at her. “You know, it might do you some good to think about starting a family as well. We could try and raise our children together, since I know I’m not getting anything from my _other_ friend anytime soon, and I—”

“The answer is no, it isn’t in the cards for myself and my husband.” It was a cold response, something sharp and blunt that caught Maribelle off-guard, but Panne’s voice warmed up as she continued on. “Please, if you choose to become a mother that is your decision, but do not try to talk me into it alongside you. I assure you, if it were possible I would without hesitation, but it is not possible.”

“Not…possible?” Maribelle repeated, her smile fading. “Are you saying that because you know it isn’t, or because you’ve never tried?”

“We are not having this conversation, sorry. I’ll be happy to speak with you about anything else, but not my personal details.” The way Panne was shutting her down was fairly typical for conversations with her, but it was odd how it came on so suddenly and with such a strange topic they were talking about. It wasn’t until Maribelle was home that night that she realized that Panne was being so cagey about talking about starting a family because she most likely had faced some kind of heartbreak about it at one point or another, and she made the promise to herself that she’d be much more careful when approaching the topic again with her, and if she needed to gush about the prospect of having children with someone she’d go to someone else first.

Her idea of someone else was, naturally, Lissa, who was rather smug about the whole thing because, as she put it, she _totally called it_. “I mean, over a year late, but I knew you two would come around eventually,” she said, the grin on her lips not having faded since Maribelle had initially said the b-word (that being baby) within earshot of her. “So when’s it going to happen, huh? Can’t let me know you’re gonna try but not tell me anything else.”

“Trust me, I don’t know anything more than the fact that we aren’t going to try and stop whatever might happen. Could be in a few weeks, could still be in a few years, it’s all up to fate and to our schedules at this point.” The thought that it was now up to luck, or to chance, had crossed Maribelle’s mind for a split second, but she scoffed at the idea that luck had anything to do with what she was trying to accomplish. Luck wasn’t real, it was just a label slapped onto things to make people feel better, and she wasn’t going to buy into it.

“Okay, well, I better be the first person you tell outside of your family, got it? We haven’t been best friends since I was little just for you to hide things from me.” Lissa’s insistence that she know what was going on wasn’t anything new, but it was making things awkward for Maribelle as she had already set an ordered list of people who’d find out in her head, and Lissa wasn’t exactly on top of it. She was near the top, certainly, but the person on top happened to be a child-loving, head of the pediatric wing of the hospital.

This was all planning for something that wasn’t guaranteed to happen anytime soon, even if there was no longer the need to prevent anything. Work schedules were always a pain to deal with, and when she’d have long days at the office or was handling difficult cases she didn’t exactly want to come home and get wild and crazy, even if she knew what it could lead to. For the most part, Vaike was rather understanding of this, but there were times where she’d come home and be fine and he’d end up turning her down because of his own work-related things.

But somewhere in the middle of all these missed opportunities and wasted nights, they found it within themselves to spend some quality time together, each chance taken without knowing what might have come from the previous encounter. Well, Maribelle had a fairly solid guess as to when any potential conceptions would happen, but she wasn’t going to admit to having that information mapped out when doing so might take away some of her chances to get to snuggle up to her husband with neither of them wearing anything.

Aside from that limited information she’d been stockpiling for other reasons that had become useful in this endeavor, she was admittedly going into everything blind. Yes, she knew people who had children, and yes, she could have done some research to know what to or not to do, but she didn’t exactly have all the free time in the world to spend with a bunch of pages open on a computer browser. What she did know was all things she’d heard secondhand, or things that she’d been told to remember back when she’d first learned about the lovely thing known as human reproduction, and anything else she needed to know could come later.

This was undoubtedly going to bite her in some way, and she was hoping that it would be some laughable surprise that she’d look back on years later and find humorous, not something that would make her heart ache to think about. From the very moment that she started to suspect that she could have managed to make something happen in her insistence and had wound up pregnant, there was a sinking feeling attached to it. This feeling sapped her of any interest in bringing up the possibility with any living soul, because she didn’t want to try telling someone that she was in the very early stages of pregnancy without sounding excited about it; this feeling was keeping her from even smiling at the prospect of actually being with child, indescribable and so unlike what she’d expected.

However, once she’d gone through the initial motions and had confirmed to herself that she was indeed, through that stubbornness of getting what she wanted, a handful of weeks pregnant at best, she tried her best to psyche herself up for telling people about it. There were several names that came to mind about who needed to know first, none more prominent than her husband’s, but she wasn’t going to waste her breath on telling him, only for him to tell everyone else before she got the chance. No, she was going to tell him at the same time as at least one other person, and she wanted that person to not be someone else who would run their mouth about it.

And so, the dinner invitation that she extended to Panne had been made without any agreement on if it was something they were going to do at the house or not, and while Maribelle felt a little bad about not having spoken to her husband about inviting people to the house before she already had she wasn't going to delay everything to involve him. She'd already had to do so much waiting at his hands, she didn't want to wait a second longer to tell him and her friends what big news she had for them. In the back of her mind, there was still the voice telling her to just tell Vaike without anyone else being present, but she had to keep reminding herself there was no fun in letting herself be the only person to see his surprised reaction, since that surprise would turn into him immediately telling the first person he could.

There was a lot of prep work that had to be done before the dinner, something that she was able to do under the guise of wanting to “tidy the house”, which Vaike was never one to question if she said that’s what she was doing. But instead of spending that whole night beforehand doing as she'd intended to do, she ended up needing to lock herself in the guest bathroom, her body feeling almost as if she was dying. This particular type of feeling horrible was strange and new to her, by far the worst it had ever been; every time she opened her eyes after having them forced shut she swore there was more blood falling out of her than there had been before. This wasn’t normal, this wasn’t something a newly-pregnant woman should have been experiencing, and she knew that this spelled trouble for the very thing she’d been preparing to reveal.

Rather than then spending the following day putting the finishing touches on her preparations that she should have already made, her hands were tied into what she had to do, that being finding a clinic that she could walk into on a weekend morning. The waiting time was nearly unbearable, but she stuck through it simply because the weight resting on her chest of what she was sure had happened was harder to bear than sitting in the waiting room was. When she was called back to meet with the doctor, whom she’d never seen before in her life, making the meeting impersonal and harder to handle, she could barely keep herself from losing all composure when explaining what had happened.

The response she was given to her symptoms was what she’d been dreading yet expecting to hear: she’d most likely lost what would have someday become a baby, something that wasn’t that uncommon for women at that stage in pregnancy. Hearing that put out in the open made her heart sink, her hands clench into fists that she wanted to beat into something. She was assured it wasn’t her fault, if that was really the case, but because she would have been so early in her pregnancy it was going to be hard to be positive that was the case. She’d have to follow up in a few weeks to make sure nothing else was going on, and that nature had taken its course without any issue.

Heading home from that was easily the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life, leagues beyond handling abuse cases that ended in heartbreak. She hadn’t told a soul about being pregnant until she was staring down having lost her child, and now she was hours away from a dinner at her house where she was going to tell the first people she’d thought should know. What was she going to do to fill that void? Small talk and acting like nothing was wrong wasn’t going to get her anywhere, someone was going to bring up what she’d been trying to do and she’d break at the first mention of children or babies, she was sure of it.

Cancelling the dinner and retreating somewhere that no one would bother her as she grappled with this sudden change from gaining something to losing it was her preferred option, but it wasn’t possible on such a short notice. She had to toughen up, act like she hadn’t been intending for the meal to result in anything, and get through the night and all subsequent ones without any issues. One of the things the doctor had cautioned her about was partaking in any kind of sexual activities until she knew what was going on, so she was going to have to figure out how she’d get around any of those advances if they happened to be made (and she _knew_ they’d be made).

There was now a lot more weighing on her than there had been at any point before, and she was going to have to ignore it for the sake of saving face and avoiding questions that she didn’t want to answer. Upon getting home she got right to work to try and catch up on everything she’d been unable to do the night before, hoping that the lack of time wouldn’t screw her over in the end, but by the time her husband had walked in the front door she had barely gotten anywhere. “Uh, when ya were up all night last night I kinda figured it was for cleanin’ and all that,” Vaike said, looking around the main room of the house and seeing how it looked the same as always. “What were ya up to then?”

“I did some cleaning,” she replied, her voice sounding scratchy as her throat felt raw, after having spent some of her alone time yelling at the empty house about how it wasn’t fair that she’d lost something she so badly wanted. “It wasn’t much, but I fell unwell last night and didn’t want to overwork myself. Besides, you have no idea what all of this is for, do you?”

“You’ve told me a thing or two ‘bout what’s happenin’, Maribelle, it’s not like you’re keepin’ me completely in the dark.” Given the fact that she _was_ keeping him in the dark about something, his words struck her as a lot more powerful than they were supposed to be, but he didn’t notice how she bristled at his statement. “I dunno what time they’re gettin' here or anythin’ like that, but ya invited some people over for dinner. Or at least, that’s what you were tellin’ me ya were gonna do.”

“I did do that, I invited the head of the pediatric wing at the hospital and her husband over for dinner, just so that we can get to know them. Panne and I have already developed a bit of a friendship just by our paths crossing through work, so this will be a lovely time to see a different side of one another.” It wasn’t going to be lovely at all, and Maribelle wanted to talk about how she was regretting making the plans in the first place, but part of saving face was acting like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

None the wiser to what she was hiding, Vaike moved right along in the conversation without a second thought. “Huh, never took ya for bein’ someone who’d want me t’know some of your work friends, honestly.”

“Hush, you know that I would allow you to meet anyone that I’ve met, just because you’re rough around the edges doesn’t mean I’m embarrassed by you. If they cannot handle you they have no business being friends with me.” Every word Maribelle was saying was being forced out, her façade of happiness having to be kept alive somehow. “Besides, from what I understand Panne and her husband aren’t all that different from us.”

“Somethin’ tells me you’re lyin’ there, but I guess we’ll know if ya are or not after they’ve come over, right?” Laughing, Vaike came to Maribelle’s side and wrapped her in a hug, something she pushed off immediately. “What’s up with this, don’t ya normally love when I hug ya when I get home?”

“I _do_ , yes, but we’re supposed to look and smell decent for when our company gets here, and since you just walked in after work…I’m sure you can see the issue.” Never mind the fact that she’d been cleaning and wasn’t exactly the cleanest herself, she was going to shame him for not being clean immediately upon returning home, just to have that upper hand. It had the added bonus of taking her mind off of what was bothering her, which was what she needed right in that moment.

He was taken aback for a second, before laughing what she’d said off. “Yeah, you’re probably right as always. I’ll go take care ‘a that, if you’re gonna finish up takin’ care of everything else.” As he headed towards their bedroom, she hesitated on deciding what to do next, but when she realized that if she looked like a disaster when the guests showed up, and he looked fresh and clean, it would look bad on her, she followed right behind him, causing him to turn to look over his shoulder at her in surprise. “Er, Maribelle? What happened t’needing t’finish cleanin’ up?”

“I’ve decided that me showering with you would be efficient in getting us both clean at once, at the cost of our house not looking the nicest but respectable.” She was also sure that showering would help her clear her mind, but she couldn’t admit to that when it was what she was trying so hard to hide. “But let’s not take too long, if you know what’s best for us.”

“You’re gonna want me t’help ya with your hair, that’s why we can’t take so long, ain’t it?” he asked, seeing her blank look in response. “No? But ya hate when people see ya without your hair all done up, it’s already weird enough that you’re intendin’ on showerin’ with me right before your friend gets here but now you’re gonna not work on lookin’ your best?”

She took in a sharp breath, chest rising as she contemplated how to respond to those misguided words. “I…will look my best, you know as well as I do that my natural hair is just as presentable as my hair with the clipped-in extensions. I’ve not had them in my hair at all today, putting them in now would be nothing short of a waste of our time.”

“Whatever ya say, but don’t whine t’me later when ya think ya weren’t lookin’ that great at all because your hair was wrong or somethin’, I don’t know.” Their walking continued after that, Maribelle grumbling under her breath about how her husband should have been keeping his mouth closed about her appearance while Vaike remained unaware that every word he’d said right then had bothered her and added to what was eating at her mind.

As was easily predicted, their shower together ran long, even though it was completely uneventful. It was what seemed to happen when the two of them were focused on cleaning themselves in the other’s company, wanting to make sure their hair was properly washed and rinsed before they shut the water off. Both of them had rough hair, but it was very obvious when they felt they needed to wash it thoroughly; because of her clip-ins Maribelle enjoyed washing her hair frequently to soothe her head, even if she didn’t always need to use all the different soaps she relied on, and thanks to his particular line of work it was a rare day when Vaike didn’t have something dusty or dirty in his hair that he needed to get out. While only one of them had their normal reason for washing their hair that day, they still did as usual when showering together and helped get every last unwanted speck out of the other’s hair before they finished up.

Once their shower was over and they were dried and in clean clothes that looked appropriate for the scenario Maribelle had brought upon them, she made a remark about how they hadn’t even started preparing the food for the meal that night, something that made Vaike gasp in shock. “What d’ya mean, _we_ haven’t? No one bothered tellin’ me it was any bit ‘a my responsibility t’do any cookin’ for this! Maribelle, why haven’t ya started yet?”

“Because I had no idea what you would want me to make, and I forgot to ask Panne what she would enjoy us making for her.” It was an honest answer, although she could have added that she had been more focused on everything else that had happened to her in the past day that preparing the actual meal had been the least of her worries. “Come on, maybe we could fish out an old cookbook and find some unique recipe to try, or we could call Lissa and ask her if she has any suggestions, or—”

“Hold on, call Lissa? As in, she ain’t even invited t’the dinner tonight?” This seemed to be news to Vaike, and he wasn’t going to move any further in the conversation until he had that explained to him, she was sure. “What, was she busy or somethin’? You usually have her invited first out ‘a everyone we know!”

She didn’t have the heart to tell him that Lissa wasn’t even considered for being invited, because doing so would require telling him that she had planned the evening to be used for something that it no longer could be used for. “She had other plans, yes. Something to do with her brother and needing to be available to him in case he needed her to come over and tend to his house. Normal things for her in her life, I’m sure.”

“Ah, yeah, makes sense. It’s never really much of a party if she ain’t around though, so it kinda sucks that she won’t be here.” Even though that was easily the most out-of-thin-air lie Maribelle had ever told, he believed her simply because she sounded convincing, and she was thankful for that. “But if she might be gettin' called over t’Chrom’s place, maybe it’d be best if we weren’t callin’ her up askin’ for help. If ya wanna go start lookin’ at what we’ve got in the kitchen, I guess I could pull out some cookbooks and try and help ya.”

Now that they were on the same page, it was easy to accept that suggestion and attempt to put something together for when the guests arrived. There was no luck, though, as even after they’d decided on what to make based on what they had available to them, the water had barely started to boil on the stovetop when there was a knock at the door; it would have been rude to send the person who didn’t know either of the people waiting outside to the door, but at the same time Maribelle was pretty sure that if she left Vaike to his own devices in the kitchen without her, he might never come out until the food was ready, jeopardizing his chances at socializing with the guests.

She decided that it was even ruder to leave them standing outside than it was to do anything at all, so after kissing her husband’s cheek and asking him kindly to actually come out and introduce himself once he could, she dashed for the front door, checking her appearance in every reflection that she could before she flung the door wide open for her guests. “I’m so glad you decided you could join us tonight,” she greeted with a smile, first making eye contact with Panne before turning to the tall, irritated-looking man at her side. “I suppose some introductions are in order for us, hm?”

There was no response aside from the man narrowing his eyes at her, his upper lip raising in disgust. “My apologies, I had told him that both of you would be at the door for the initial introduction, as he isn’t exactly fond of most women. Lon’qu, please stop being so disgusted at Maribelle and properly introduce yourself to her before we enter her home.”

“Oh, it’s okay, if he doesn’t want to talk to me until—”

“Hey, it’s the guy from the jail!” Coming out of nowhere and making Maribelle jump where she stood, Vaike rested his elbows on her shoulders as he put his chin on the top of her head and grinned at the man standing in the doorway. “Ain’t that right, you’re the newer guy around there that didn’t like me bein’ there the other day, aren’t ya?”

“Indeed I am,” Lon’qu replied, voice just as rough and uninviting as Maribelle had figured it would be, given how he was acting towards her. “If it weren’t for the officers who swore by your work, I would have chosen someone else to do the job.”

“It seems they already know each other, how about that,” Panne remarked, looking at the two men with satisfaction in her gaze, before she looked to Maribelle and chuckled. “Maybe it was a good thing that your husband came up behind you as he did, otherwise we may have never gotten Lon’qu to speak if it were just you and me standing here.”

“Yeah, good thing, that’s what we’ll call it.” Maribelle’s mind was drifting back to the fact that someone needed to be in the kitchen to make sure nothing went wrong, and if everyone was at the doorway that was a prime time for disaster. She needed to get people moving, and fast, before there was a chance of something going wrong. “Say, why don’t we take this conversation inside?” she said to the two men, who were continuing on discussing credentials and doing work at the jail, but when neither of them seemed to pay attention to her she was forced to go in for herself. “Okay, whatever, care to follow me inside, Panne?”

Her offer was accepted without a word, Panne stepping into the house past the men and not caring to look back to see if they were going to move as well. “I’m surprised that you took this long to make the offer for me to join you here for a meal. For such a busy woman, you sure do seem to enjoy social outings, and being left out for so long has been…surprising, if I have to choose a word for it.”

“Surprising? You wish you’d been invited over sooner?” She was curious as to how Panne knew she went out to dine with friends as often as she did, but that wasn’t as important as the fact that this super-professional woman was baring her heart about wanting to be invited over. “If I’d known that, I would’ve made this work out faster. It was just, uh, I had other plans for today and those…”

“Speak your words, I’m curious about what your plans might have been.” The adamant head-shaking she got in return made Panne tilt her head slightly to the side, before clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth a couple times, and it was in that moment of her reading the situation that Maribelle decided she didn’t want to be having that conversation right then. She picked up her pace and went to the kitchen, hoping that her guest would get distracted by something along the way and not follow her in.

The silence she had in the kitchen was lovely for the time that she had it, but soon Panne’s head was poking in the entryway, checking the surroundings, before she came in properly. “I’m sorry, it’s just been a long day and I don’t think I’m up for talking about it,” Maribelle told her as she leaned against a counter, looking at her as if she was the only thing in the room. “It’s kind of heavy stuff, and if I’m going to tell anyone today, it’s going to be my husband, then maybe you.”

“If it’s a secret you’re keeping, consider my curiosity gone. I will not press further into knowing what it is, if that’s what would make you comfortable in this moment.” There was always something about how Panne spoke and acted, about how formal and proper she tried to make herself seem, that had interested Maribelle, and it was right then that she realized that the interest was there because Panne seemed to be so much like how she’d been raised to be. To be interested in things but be considerate about them, to sound like a snooty person but to have heart behind the words that were being spoke. To seem untouchable, but to offer out open arms whenever given the chance. That was what had been drawing her to get closer to her, and now they were as close as they were going to get.

Taking in a few shallow breaths as she decided what she was going to do, Maribelle turned to her cooking and focused on that for a little while, until she’d begun to pay more attention to the woman standing in the same kitchen as her than anything else. “I said it’s heavy stuff, and we’re here for a friendly get-together, I’d hate to ruin the mood just because I’m having a bad day.”

“If you’re stopping yourself from letting out what’s on your mind because you think you will ‘ruin the mood’, I assure you that you could never manage to do that. I’ve had important days in my life ruined by gunshots and murder, you talking about what ails you cannot top any of that.” It was Panne’s finest attempt at getting Maribelle to understand that she wasn’t going to judge, but when she saw her sway a little in indecision with what to do, she attacked it from a different angle. “The men are not going to intrude on whatever it is you say to me, if you choose to say it. You did express desire to let your husband know first, and I respect that, but you have myself as a listening ear if you choose.”

“Thanks, but I…I just don’t know right now, sorry.” Was there even a good way to say what was bothering her? There didn’t seem to be any good way that Maribelle could casually bring up that she’d lost a child no one had even know existed (except for herself, of course), and that she was actually bothered by the fact that it had happened. Approaching the topic head-on would just be graphic and horrifying, being stealthy about it would lead to needing to elaborate anyway, and keeping it to herself was just making her think about it more than she should have been. The wound and the memories were too fresh for her to say anything to anyone, it was just going to have to be something that she’d bring up as an off-handed comment years in the future and that was that.

Somewhere during that train of thought she had mumbled something under her breath, and Panne pushed herself off the counter and stood at Maribelle’s side once she’d heard it, gently patting her back once she was standing right there. “My dear, did I hear what you said correctly?” she asked, hoping for clarification. “If I did, then your reluctance to speak is entirely justified.

“W-what did I say?” Maribelle responded, feeling her face begin to heat up at the possibility of her having said something she didn’t intend to. “Whatever it is, I probably didn’t mean it, especially if it was rude or if it was about you.”

“It wasn’t either of those things, it was about…” Trailing off as she held an arm out towards her, with her forearm exposed, Panne stopped patting her back in order to begin tracing what looked like dark freckles on her skin. “It’s something that you should not feel ashamed in talking about, not in the company of someone who understands the struggle you’re currently facing.”

Maribelle recognized the motions she was making, she’d seen her doing this exact thing before in her office, when they’d been having a conversation about children. “You didn’t care for when I suggested that you should have a child because you’ve lost someone before, isn’t that right?” she finally asked, figuring out the words she should say in that moment to tell Panne she’d begun to connect the events in her mind. “Must’ve been a sore spot for you, to have heard me wanting to talk about having a family.”

“No, it isn’t sore so much anymore, I know that someday I will have the chance again and I must focus on that and not any unplanned times before then, unless I want to reach the same ending you seem to have.” Pulling her hand away to show Maribelle the marks she was tracing over, it became clear that none of the marks were actual freckles; they were all perfectly round and of the same size, dotting her forearm in a frantic pattern. “Each one of these represents a lost chance to continue my family’s bloodline, another member of my family put under Naga’s care without any consideration to how the living feel.”

“That’s a really deep way to word it,” Maribelle said, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper. “I was figuring you were focused on your career and didn’t care for me telling you to put it aside, but instead you’ve been shouldering…this.”

“Indeed I have been, but do not think of it as me shouldering something, think of it instead as the world preparing me for when the right child comes along. Each of these chances was planned, but each one was not quite right for the world when we took it.” Panne pursed her lips together as she looked at her arm, her eyes flickering from one mark to the next, before she shook her head and pulled back entirely, stepping away from Maribelle to give her some space. “But, in contrast to what you are currently experiencing, my issues came from the way we have been forced to conceive children. There is always the risk that they don’t implant, despite how much you wish for them to.”

“Oh, I…understand you, I think.” She really did believe that she understood, but if her hunch was correct, then this was a large piece of herself that Panne had just given her, and she wasn’t sure how to take that. “You wouldn’t mind if we, I don’t know, talked about that struggle sometime, would you?”

“I wouldn’t mind at all, it helps to have a listening ear when you have heartache of this type. Now isn’t the appropriate time for the discussion, however, as you seem to be focusing more on what’s being said than what you should be doing.” The comment got Maribelle to look at the stovetop and see what she’d set to boil running over, thankfully only slightly sizzling as it burned itself to evaporation. Laughing (even though the laugh was definitely forced and had no enjoyment behind it), Panne headed out of the kitchen to leave her to fix the mess she’d made, giving her the parting words, “I’ll be checking on the men to see what they are up to. And don’t worry, what we shared between us will stay between us, you have my promise.”

Despite fully believing her and taking her word as it was, Maribelle couldn’t help but keep thinking back on what they’d been talking about, their shared pain and the fact that they were able to have each other in such a tough time in her life. The smallest of smiles cracked its way onto her lips for a split second as she thought about how thankful she was that Panne had been the person she’d chosen to invite over to tell first. It was pretty lucky that the person she’d picked happened to be someone who could make sense of what had gone wrong and know how to delicately approach the situation—something that wouldn’t have been expected given how brash Panne seemed to be just by looking at her.

But at the same time, on the opposite side of things, how _un_ lucky it was that they’d both been in the same situation, forced to know that they were going to be without a child just as they’d started to get their hopes up about having one. They were both women dedicated to their lines of work, they had done so much to get where they were, and it seemed as if Naga didn’t want them to forsake their roles in society so that they could become mothers.

The thought of going against Naga to get what she wanted crossed Maribelle’s mind just as more of what she’d been cooking for dinner boiled over, this time splashing up at her and slightly burning her hand in the process. She inhaled deeply, refusing to scream out in pain at the burning sensation she was currently feeling, and it was only after she’d tended to the food that she went to the sink and ran her hand under cool water. Of all the things that could have gone wrong right then, something just had to splash up and hit her, and now she was going to have to play that off too.

Somewhere in her inattention and her focus on making sure her hand was fine, she forgot to actually do much with what she was cooking; this wasn’t unusual for her as she wasn’t exactly a proper housewife and wasn’t the best at getting things done. She’d been expecting Vaike to come in to help her out at any point, but he must’ve gotten really distracted by talking to Lon’qu (and Panne, once she went out to find what they were up to) and forgotten that he was supposed to be helping her. As a result, the dinner she prepared was barely edible and everyone was having to try choking it down as best as they could before she, not wanting her pride to be too damaged by having one of them say something, suggested that they order something to be delivered instead.

It was a gladly-accepted offer and she didn’t feel too bad about having to toss out what she’d cooked, because she knew that she’d screwed up on it. There had just been so much happening at once there in the kitchen, and with her mind focused on everything but her current physical location she had known that she’d make some mistake that needed to be fixed by someone else. So as the men decided where they were going to order a replacement meal from, she took the food off the table and threw it in the trash, the dirty dishes piling up on the counter for a task she could handle later.

“You don’t seem disappointed in yourself for letting this meal fall apart this way,” Panne said as she followed her into the kitchen, the sound of the men’s voices out in the dining room a loud background noise. “In fact, you don’t seem like you’ve really processed what’s happened at all. Our discussion still on your mind?”

There were so many ways that Maribelle could have responded, but she was worried that most of them would end with her getting visibly upset, something she didn’t want to happen for when she had to leave the safety of the kitchen. “Yes, but I would rather not talk about it again. Some other time, some other place, maybe when it’s less fresh in my mind,” she replied, wringing her hands as she waited for Panne’s response.

What she was given was an understanding nod before Panne turned on her toes and headed right back into the dining room, greeting the men with something that got them both to quiet down. “Maribelle, please join us out here, it seems they have come to a decision,” she called back after herself, trying to get the fourth person to rejoin the group. “We need to now decide what we will get, now that we know from where.”

Closing her eyes, Maribelle wished they were out at that nice restaurant her and Lissa had gone to, so that she could get drunk on free wine again and forget that the previous night had happened. But that wasn’t a possibility, not right then, and she had to continue pretending like nothing had changed and nothing had gone wrong at all, a fight that was going to only get harder to stay strong in.

“I’ll be right out there, please tell me it’s somewhere _good_ for a change,” she finally answered as she reopened her eyes, ready to resume putting on that brave face in front of her husband and their guests. “Nothing cheap, or gross, or anywhere we haven’t tried. I’d rather not get sick off food that we bought to keep us from getting sick off my food.”

She’d rather have not gotten sick at all, but she figured that’d just come with the territory of her having one of the worst days of her life, hands down.

 


	4. The Calico Cat

Some scars weren’t meant to heal right away, and dealing with the loss of a child she’d just barely begun to understand she was going to have wasn’t anything Maribelle handled with grace. She never once brought it up with anyone but Panne, and that was only because Panne had happened to be in the right place at the wrong time to find out, which meant that there were a lot of people who were suddenly in the dark about something they didn’t understand. There was confusion the next time Lissa teasingly brought up the idea and was met with a blank stare and an insistence that it wasn’t happening anytime soon, if ever, and if she was confused when she heard that, then there had to be something greater to explain how Vaike took it when he realized Maribelle didn’t seem to want what she’d waited for from him any longer.

Eventually, though, things went back to what could only have been described as the new normal: there was work, there was down time at home, there were weekly get-togethers with friends, and there was not even a fleeting mention of the idea of them starting a family. It was nowhere near what Maribelle had anticipated her life would have become once she’d gotten married and settled down, but it was better that than another heartbreak that she’d inevitably shoulder all on her own.

The time began to pass faster, as everything they did fell into this usual routine they’d built for themselves. Sure, sometimes there were hiccups in the plan, and sometimes things got cancelled or work prevented things from happening, but overall it was the same thing every week, more or less. But as it got into the following year, they started talking about taking some time out of their normal routine for themselves, to go off and celebrate the time they’d spent together. “Two whole years, huh?” she’d remarked the first time they talked about doing something special. “If we were going to do something, shouldn’t we have done it last year, or are we just being slow?”

“Hey, last year there was a lot goin’ on for ya at work, with all those hard cases and stuff that had you cryin’ all the time. Wasn’t gonna ask ya t’take off outta that, even if it woulda been great for ya mentally.” If there was one thing Vaike always tried to be, it was considerate for what was best for the woman he loved, even if his decisions didn’t make the most sense. “So what I was thinkin’ was that we could take a week and go off and do somethin’ together, somewhere we’ve never been. Somethin’ new and exciting t’mark the time we’ve been married. Fun, right?”’

“I wouldn’t label it as ‘fun’ until we know what, exactly, it is that we’ll be doing, but I’m sure whatever we come up with, it’ll be enjoyable.” Some of the last things they’d done that he’d called fun that she hadn’t enjoyed were going to see some shoddy movies, trying their hand at bowling (which she’d never done and actually broke multiple nails in the middle of solidly knocking down as many pins as she had fingers in the whole game), and checking out local restaurants that really should have been shut down before they arrived. “A week alone with you, without work to worry about or the house to keep tidy? Sign me up for that.”

“Okay but, we ain’t doin’ this until it’s at least our anniversary, gotta make us both wait for it. At least that way, we’ve got the time t’really plan what we’re gonna do, so that it doesn’t end up goin’ horribly.” Hearing him talk of plans made her remember the last plan they’d come up with together, the one to maybe start a family, and the heartache from that came at her with full force, hitting her right where it hurt; rather than let him see that she’d let her thoughts wander into painful territory she smiled at him and let the conversation fall dead right where it was.

It wasn’t the end of their time on the topic, however, and when he brought it up again a few weeks later she was back to being invested in the idea on the condition that they set in stone what it was they were going to go do before they committed to it. That led to them both having to do their own research on the matter, to see what there was anywhere in Ylisse that seemed interesting to do together, and Maribelle knew exactly who she needed to go to in order to find some fun suggestions.

“Ooh, you’re talking about a romantic getaway?” Lissa asked, hands cupping her cheeks in excitement as Maribelle explained the situation as they stood outside of their cars parked along an empty downtown street. “Count me in on planning this! I had a lot of fun back when you two considered that cruise you did, maybe this time I’ll manage to even top that!”

“Trust me, you might’ve been the only one who had fun with that one,” she muttered in response, before shaking her head. “Seriously though, all I’m looking for is an idea of somewhere that we can go for a week that’s unique, that’s interesting, and that will entertain me more than sitting in a room on a boat. I’d rather never do that again, even if it is with one of the people I love most.”

“Okay, okay, what is there to do. Hm…” Moving one of her hands up to scratch behind her ear as she thought, Lissa took a few seconds before she shrugged. “I’ve got nothing right now, we might need to figure out where _we’re_ going for the day so I can sit down and really think about all the places I could suggest for you to go. Money’s not that big of a concern for this, is it? I think I know some places that might be a bit pricey.”

“Money’s never a concern, what matters is that we have fun,” Maribelle lied, knowing that limiting Lissa’s possible suggestions would just make things harder, but also aware that too much couldn’t be spent on the trip or else they wouldn’t be able to pay for things once they were home, even with savings and preparation. “I know that you and your brother have seen the sights of Ylisse that even I’ve never considered, that’s why I turn to you first about this sort of thing. Experience trumps any kind of proper research.”

Hearing the praise of her past adventures, Lissa began to blush, only making her head-scratching more furious. “Well how about we go eat somewhere, then we get to putting all the possibilities out there for this!”

“Sure, you lead the way and we’ll make something happen.” Not sure what to expect for either part of what Lissa had said, Maribelle went along with where she took them, which was a corner café not far from where they’d parked, somewhere that looked quiet and barely busy, with a judgmental barista at the counter watching their every move as they came in. The barista felt familiar to Maribelle for some reason, a familiarity that she couldn’t quite place, but she let Lissa interact with her and place their order as she found them the table furthest from the door to sit at. “They didn’t have any fresh tea and I didn’t want to order a coffee for you and see you spill it on yourself again, so I asked her to make some tea and bring it to us once it was ready, if that’s okay,” Lissa explained when she came to the table herself completely empty-handed. “She didn’t even ask me for my name, which was super weird. Normally in places I’ve never been they have to ask me for that.”

“Did you pay with your card? She could have read it off of there.” Maribelle’s response came as she looked at the barista behind the counter, the red-haired woman having toned down her judgmental glare as they’d gotten comfortable inside the café. “Anyway, if she didn’t, it might be because she knows us from somewhere. Where, I have no idea, but I definitely recognize her. Maybe from work? Have I represented her or her child on a case before?” That would have explained the woman knowing her, though, not Lissa, and that didn’t answer the mystery they were currently trying to solve.

“I don’t think I know her, but I didn’t pay with my card so she definitely didn’t get my name that way. Oh well, it doesn’t matter, does it?” Lissa seemed more than happy to move past figuring out who the barista was, but even as she started talking about all the possible places that were up for consideration Maribelle wasn’t really paying attention to her. She was transfixed on who was behind the counter, watching the woman have to adjust her glasses as the hot water she was making tea with steamed them up. “Er, Maribelle? Are you with me? I just said maybe going to the mountains would be nice, there’s a lot to see and do there.”

“Mountains, sounds outdoorsy and not like anything I’d have fun doing. I’m not one for hiking, I’ll get tired and need to be carried back to wherever we’re staying.” Giving her head a shake to try and clear her mind, Maribelle turned to face Lissa, a small smile on her lips. “Not like I’d be complaining if it was my husband carrying me down, but I think he’d have a word or two to say about being treated like a pack animal.”

Giggling at the way she’d worded that, Lissa went right into another suggestion. “So no mountains, and no cruises, that’s fine. There’s all sorts of natural wonders in Ylisse, if you want to go looking for them. Small villages where you can get a nice room at a bed and breakfast and relax there? Islands where you can relax on the beach? What are you leaning towards, you’ve gotta help me out! This is for you!”

“I don’t know, Lissa, that’s why you’re helping me to begin with. All of that sounds…okay at best, I just don’t know what I’d like to go do. It’s so hard to even imagine dropping everything for a week to do something, I can’t picture what it might be that I’m doing!” Once again Maribelle was looking away from Lissa, trying to get a glimpse of the barista again, but she was nowhere to be found. Nor was she coming towards them with fresh and hot tea, which caused her to bring a hand to her mouth in surprise. “Where did the only employee here go? We didn’t walk in at or after closing time, did we?”

“No way, this place is never closed early in the day, not when I see it. Then again, most of the time when I see it it’s just as empty as it was when we got here, so we’ve made it busier than normal, maybe she couldn’t handle the pressure?” Lissa wasn’t as concerned with the stranger’s whereabouts, as she wasn’t as insistent that she knew the lady as Maribelle was, and she went right back to listing off places that were potential getaways, as if nothing else was happening in that moment.

Maribelle still wasn’t paying attention, though, as she was looking around trying to figure out where the woman had gone. “Maybe she went into the back room?” she suggested under her breath, noticing that there was a door behind the counter that seemed to lead somewhere, rather than being for decoration. “But what if we’d intended on jumping behind the counter and stealing things? Shouldn’t she be watching for that?”

“Ahem, I would strongly hope that a lawyer such as yourself would never partake in foolish illegal activities, especially when the person you would be stealing from is a loyal and trusted associate of your law firm.” The barista’s appearance right next to the table took both women by surprise, but what was more surprising was the lack of cups in her hands, replaced instead with a packet of papers that she was offering towards Maribelle. “It isn’t usual for someone we work with to wander into the cover job, but knowing how fastidious you are with your cases I can only assume that you knew you would find me here.”

“I’m going to be honest, I had no say in where we went today, it was all my friend’s choosing.” Taking the papers in hand, Maribelle recognized them as status updates she’d requested on a couple of old clients a few weeks previously, and she looked to the person who’d given them to her in shock. “Hold on, Miriel? Why do you work in a coffee shop?”

“There you go, showing that despite your brilliance in defending children, you are not nearly as observant of the world around you. This shop is merely the front room to the children’s shelter that I help run, a way to earn some extra money for the kids we help move into forever homes.” Pushing her glasses up her nose with the side of her hand, Miriel smirked as she saw Maribelle’s jaw slightly drop at the revelation, her eyes darting all around the small, still-empty shop. “It’s a rather ingenious plan, if I do say so myself.”

“I had _no_ idea that your shelter was downtown! If I’d known, I would’ve come here so much sooner!” Things weren’t exactly making perfect sense, but Maribelle was figuring out that this shop wasn’t anything like it seemed, that back room was actually somewhere much more wholesome than just a storage room or an office. This woman standing next to her was someone she’d encountered many times during her cases, due to her being the logical mind behind the rehoming and pre-foster care shelter in Ylisstol, and it was only slightly shameful that it took until she’d passed along information she’d been asked for Maribelle to properly recognize her. “Do you actually serve drinks here, or did you make my friend pay you for nothing in return?”

The smirk faded, going to a more neutral expression. “We serve drinks, yes. This is a fully-functioning coffee shop after all, it just plays a role that connects it to the building it obscures from the view of the street. But even if I had taken her money for nothing in exchange, think about it, that money would—” she flicked the papers she’d handed over, “—go right to assisting children like this who are in desperate need of somewhere better to live.”

“Hold on a second, you’re telling me you two work together?” Lissa asked, finally getting a grip on what was happening in front of her. “That’s totally why you recognized her, isn’t it Maribelle? Because you work together?”

“We don’t work together in the sense you’re thinking, I think. It’d be like me saying you and Panne work together, just because you both work at the hospital.” The mere mention of Maribelle’s other close friend got Lissa to shrink back, hanging her head in apology, but it also brought that smirk back to Miriel’s face. “Honestly, I think Miriel here probably works with her more than me, anyway, seeing how many times I’ve run into her over in the pediatric wing.”

“I do spend copious amounts of time walking those halls, checking on children being brought into the system Libra and I have worked so hard to maintain. A basis in faith and wanting children to be happy, healthy, and wanted wherever they are, that is how we run our shelter and we will never change it.” Miriel paused, as she glanced back towards the counter she’d left unmanned the entire time. “Perhaps I should go drag him away from drafting whatever message he’s planning on sending out and have him properly meet you, we speak often enough about him in our conversations.”

“Don’t worry about it, if he’s doing something I would prefer not to ask you to bother him so I could meet him. Always next time, you know?” She was only partially speaking out of genuine kindness, but partially because Maribelle had looked in the same direction Miriel had and had reminded herself that she had been promised tea. “But, uh, if you’re not going to go get him, could you maybe—”

“Get your drinks finished, yes I could do that. Even if this is not a primary occupation, it is still one that I must take seriously on the off-chance people such as yourselves stumble in as if we are a real coffee shop.” Chuckling to herself as she walked away, the next time Miriel came back was with two decent-sized teacups on saucers that looked well-used. “We regrettably do not have the best dishes to serve our customers with, but that is what happens when most money raised here goes straight to the children.”

Maribelle smiled, pushing aside the papers she’d been leafing through to make room for her drink, while Lissa watched them both with suspicion in her eyes. After Miriel was done thanking them for their patronage and headed back into the other room, the shop once again empty aside from the two women, that was when she spoke her mind on the situation. “Okay, so I don’t know who that is or why she’s giving you important documents right in front of me, but did she say my money I paid to her for our drinks is going to children? Really? How cool is that!”

“Heh, yeah, her and her husband or boyfriend or whatever he is, they run the service here in Ylisstol that rehomes battered children, but they function on donations and fundraisers and I guess this shop here.” Sipping from her tea, nearly burning her tongue as she didn’t expect it to be as hot as it was, Maribelle set her cup back down and looked at the papers again. Some of the more difficult cases she’d had to get involved in were represented in the stack, children lucky enough to get out of their negative situations at times where the shelter behind the shop had openings. “They do a wonderful job of helping the children out, they’re basically new parents to these kids until they actually find them new parents.”

“That’s even cooler than just the money going to helpless kids! I want to make a difference in someone’s life like them, or like you, but I guess I went into the wrong field for that.” There was a pause, as Lissa realized how wrong she was, given that she was a nurse who’d made plenty of difference in many lives. “I mean, kids’ lives. I want to change them and help them and keep them save like you guys do.”

“H-hey now, we don’t get involved until they’re past safe. You at least aren’t getting called in because someone’s been abused, you’re just taking care of, uh, people who fall off ladders and get in car crashes and simple things like that.” The first example that had come to Maribelle’s mind had been “people who shoot themselves with nail guns” but she knew that was too pointed and too referential to her own husband. “But seriously, why are we dwelling on all this heavy stuff? Coming up with places for my trip, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing.”

“Ri-i-ight, that _is_ why we came here, then you and the barista got super caught up in talking about other things. What’s more important, work or vacation?” Lissa teasingly asked, knowing that Maribelle would say the former without hesitation. She was given a glare over the rim of the teacup for her question, which made her snort with laughter. “Fine, fine, let’s make vacation at least a little important to you now, I guess. What a shame that I really haven’t come up with anywhere else to tell you…”

Nearly spitting out the tea in her mouth, Maribelle replied, “Nowhere else? You’ve got to be kidding, you have to know somewhere, anywhere, that’s unique and that we would have fun being there to celebrate our anniversary.”

“I mean, I can list off all sorts of places, but I know you, and I know Vaike, and I know both of you won’t like most of these places. Art installations by the sea? He’ll hate it and complain at you about how bored he is. Cool parks with all sorts of animals roaming wild? You’ll have a hard time keeping him from harassing something and getting himself mauled. There’s just no winning with the two of you!” Throwing a hand into the air to show how exasperated she was pretending to be, Lissa added, “But of course, you could just go stay at a nice, private, romantic hotel somewhere and let nothing stand between you two and doing anything you want with each other.”

“Please, if our goal was to have pleasurable time together for our entire getaway, we wouldn’t bother with traveling and would rather stay home, together, in the comforts of our own bedroom.” Now Maribelle was rather thankful that Miriel had disappeared back into the other part of the shop, she’d have hated for her to have overheard this part of their discussion. “Hm, how about a nice resort or something, do you know anything about any of those? I know you and Chrom most likely wouldn’t have stayed at any when on your trips, but there’s always a chance, correct?”

“I’ve heard of a few, but they were always things we just kinda passed by as we were going wherever it was Emmeryn was taking us.” Lissa shrank back in her chair as she let thoughts of her older sister cross her mind, memories both bad and good coming up just at the mention of her. “Something I do remember, though,” she said in a hushed voice after a moment, “is that she loved taking us to go see all sorts of musicals and shows, just so that we had something to do while she was doing her business.”

“Musicals? Don’t you think that’s a little…absurd of a suggestion, given who I’d be taking with me?” To be completely fair, Maribelle had done her fair share of enjoying soundtracks from musicals, but the thought of dragging Vaike to see one felt like it would be equal to him trying to drag her to, for instance, something physically-intensive and draining. “We wouldn’t have any kind of common interest in any of the musicals touring around Ylisse, I’m sure there are very few that he’d be remotely interested in giving a try.”

Lissa scrunched her face at the negativity but quickly decided it wasn’t worth the fight. “That’s fair, I forgot not everyone is into that sort of stuff. Guess I’m all out of ideas though, I really gave it my all but that’s that.”

“We still have time to come up with something, there is no ‘all out of ideas’ quite yet.” Sipping off her tea again, Maribelle could tell that something was bothering Lissa in the moment but she wasn’t going to call attention to it, assuming it had to do with talking about her sister. “We can meet up again in a few weeks and see if anything’s come to you then, provided that someone else hasn’t already come up with a perfect idea.”

“I sure hope someone comes up with one before me, all I think I’m doing is giving bad answers that you automatically reject.” The honesty was appreciated, but it was clear that Lissa wasn’t focusing on how helpful her giving rejected possibilities actually was. “I guess, if you really want me to keep trying at this, I can look through photo books and see if Emm had taken us anywhere else, but really she just toted us along on her business trips and to conferences and stuff like that. You know, boring adult things.”

“Lissa, has it occurred to you that we have become boring adults who do boring adult things? We work all day, we struggle to come up with things for vacations, we’ve passed from young and wild to old and lame without realizing it.” Suppressing a laugh by taking another sip of her tea, Maribelle closed her eyes and envisioned her life if she hadn’t, as she’d just put it, become old and lame. She figured she’d be on trips every week, money thrown everywhere, having a grand time everywhere she went, no cares in the world other than the pursuit of pleasure. “Maybe that’s why we’re having such a hard time here, because we want to bore ourselves to death.”

“I mean, if you want me to look up where business conferences will be in the middle of summer, I could probably do that for you. I could even ask Chrom, I’m sure he’d know of plenty you could crash because you’re ‘old and lame’ now.” Watching as Maribelle cracked her eyes back open, looking at her as if she’d just said the dumbest thing imaginable, Lissa continued with, “Oh, come on, don’t act like he wouldn’t find that hilarious if I called him right now and did that. I bet he’d think someone put me up to it and demand to know which of his friends are trying to get him to work less.”

Reflecting on that for a second and deeming it entirely plausible, Maribelle set her now-mostly empty cup down and laughed. “That’s very true, and he would never expect that it was a conversation between the two of us that sparked it, but maybe we should leave him out of it. No calling him for silly reasons unless they’re really worth it. He has enough on his plate every day, he doesn’t need us adding to his stresses.”

“You wanna know something bad about us having grown up and gotten our big-girl jobs and all that?” Lissa asked, what Maribelle having just said fresh in her mind. “We don’t have time to sit around and gossip about what Chrom and all his friends are doing anymore, and it sucks. Remember when we used to do that? Find a place like this, sit for a couple hours studying and talking about what they were all doing? Why can’t we go back to those days?”

The proper answer would have been to remind her that they’d gotten older and more responsible, but Maribelle knew that there was something pushing her towards that line of reminiscence. “We could try to, if we wanted to spend more time together, but I’m afraid that I don’t hear much about any of the old group, unless it’s Vaike telling me about him running into one of them. I shouldn’t ever end up crossing paths with any of them, if they’ve turned into halfway decent people who could someday become parents.”

“Heh, yeah, I forgot about _that_ part of things, I guess I see all of them more than you really would. And that’s okay, next time we want to hang out and talk you can tell me what you’ve heard from Vaike and I can tell you what I’ve seen and heard for myself!” Grinning, Lissa gave Maribelle a thumbs-up, a gesture that was returned to her with no hesitation. “It’s settled, we’re gonna do that the next time we meet up for talking about your trip! So plan it out now, we’ve got a lot to talk about when we get there!”

When they left the café not long after that, dishes neatly stacked and a couple dollars tucked under the pile (“for the children,” Lissa insisted), they parted with the agreement that they were going to have another meeting like this again soon, and they were going to gossip just like they had when they were younger. What ended up happening was that there wasn’t any reason for a second meeting on the trip-planning topic, as something that Maribelle hadn’t expected happened the moment she started talking about what Lissa had thrown at her as suggestions for the vacation.

At the mention of going and seeing some kind of stage performance, while he wasn’t overly thrilled with the idea, Vaike told her that he would consider making that what they did, go and stay somewhere nice and see a show, but only if he was allowed to pick which one they went to see. Surprised that he was fine with that, as she’d gotten it in her mind that while she’d have fun seeing a show, he wouldn’t, she immediately accepted his offer, allowing for him to plan things as he wanted and let her be shocked when the time came for them to go on their trip. With that agreement made, they didn’t really speak much more about it, outside of him asking if there were any shows she’d heard to stay away from, because he was completely clueless on the medium and she had at least dabbled in listening to soundtracks.

That also meant that she completely forgot that she was supposed to meet back up with Lissa and have a dual-purpose planning and gossip session. As weeks went by without so much as a thought on the agreement they’d made, she’d gone right back into focusing entirely on work and the regular schedule that her life had created for itself; this was broken only when Lissa called her, confused and a bit upset that she’d been forgotten about. “This isn’t what best friends do to each other, why do you keep leaving me out of things?” she tearfully asked during the call, a question Maribelle couldn’t give a proper answer to. They’d grown up but that didn’t mean they needed to grow apart, and something needed to be done about fixing that problem.

Adding in a weekly get-together with Lissa just to make sure they kept in touch and maintained their friendship wasn’t the option Maribelle had wanted to go with, but it was the only one that made sense. Committing yet another chunk of her time each week to something else was just another stressful thing that she’d have to accommodate now—and for the first time since it had happened she was starting to see losing the child she’d wanted not as a horrible thing, but as a heartbreaking blessing in disguise. Having that kid around would have only added more to the nightmare that her life had become, and maybe it was for the best that fate had decided she shouldn’t have had a kid there in that moment.

It was a nasty thought, but it was one that kept cropping up as the weekly routine got to be more smothering. How would she have had the time to deal with preparing for a child, while trying to keep her social and professional lives intact? She wouldn’t have been, she would have given up and collapsed under the pressure and she needed to remember that everything happened for a reason, every loss and gain in life. But even still, surviving under all her current stress wasn’t something she was sure she was capable of, and she knew that she’d get a week’s reprieve from the struggle when her anniversary came around. After that, she’d have to rework how things were happening to allow herself some breathing room, but at the moment she had the trip they were going on to look forward to.

It wasn’t…that long until summer came around, was it?

* * *

By some stroke of luck, or perhaps just her own insistence that she make it through, the last day of work before they were to leave came upon Maribelle after a multitude of weeks that crawled by at a snail’s pace. They’d decided they’d leave on the night of their anniversary, since it was mid-week and they’d get to their destination (which was a couple hours outside of Ylisstol in a little resort town) while most residents would be back at their homes and no tourists would really be around. It made perfect sense, then, to work up until the hour they were going to leave, to make sure as much as possible was taken care of before being gone for an entire week.

She was sitting at her desk, reorganizing new case files so that she could jump right into them when she got back, when the receptionist poked his head into her personal office, informing her that she had someone there to visit with her. “I’m not scheduled for any client visits right now, can you tell me who it is?” she asked, the receptionist shrugging his shoulders in return. “Let me guess, it’s not actually someone here looking for my help, is it?”

“The man didn’t say much, he just asked for you by full name and said it was a personal matter. I figured it was best to get you and see what you thought.” The receptionist shrugged once more, as Maribelle got up from her chair and approached him at the door, the two of them heading down the hall and to the main waiting area of the office. Once there, he pointed towards a well-dressed man with his back turned towards them, reading informational fliers that were hanging from the wall. “That’s him, do you recognize him? Should I call security?”

“N-no, I definitely do recognize him, I’ll speak with him myself. Thanks for getting me as he asked you to.” The receptionist nodded, going back to his desk to return to his work, while she inhaled deeply through her nose, trying to figure out how to go through with what she needed to. She was in her professional setting, doing anything immature or playful could and would look bad on her part, but she had rarely, if ever, been professional around this person before, so she wasn’t sure how she’d do that without feeling awkward.

She decided to approach him, tapping his shoulder to get him to turn around and look at her, smiling when he saw it was her. “Ahem, I’m sorry, but unless you’re going to break the news to me that you have some side woman in your life, you shouldn’t be here for my services,” she said to him, putting on the straightest face she could manage in the moment. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave and to stop wasting my time.”

“Never change, Maribelle, you can’t quite keep yourself from cracking up at your attempts at joking with me,” he replied, fully turning around so that they were standing face to face, opening his arms up to hug her, something she shook her head in refusal at. “That’s fair, I do suppose you are in your workplace and I’m the stranger here. Don’t need to start your fellow associates on thinking that you’re a promiscuous woman, do we?”

The only other person present was the receptionist, and he seemed to be scrolling through email lists at his computer, rather than watching what was going on, but on the chance that he was listening she didn’t want to get too far into teasing banter. “You’re right, we don’t need any of them thinking that, seeing as everyone here knows I’ll be gone for the next week on a trip for my anniversary. Let’s take our conversation somewhere else.”

He nodded, looking around for where they could go, but before he had the chance to suggest stepping outside she was heading back towards her office, beckoning for him to follow her with hand gestures. Even though he wasn’t there for any sort of professional meeting, he decided it would be best to follow along, and so he did, ending up inside her small office with her still at the door. “So, this is where you work? A rather…boring place, wouldn’t you say? I’d expect at least some flowers or some decorations, it being you who works here.”

“Cut to the chase, Frederick, it’s not every day that you just stumble into the law office someone works at and ask for them for casual conversation. My _full_ name, really? Was that necessary? Did you think I’d go by something else while I’m at work?” The playfulness had worn off, but Maribelle was still speaking in an upbeat tone, her snappish words coming off not as harsh as they could have been. “You should explain yourself, right now, before I call Lissa and tell her you’re over here seducing me. No, wait, better, I call Vaike and tell him, he’ll come rip you a new one so fast that—”

“Don’t call either of them. Vaike is already aware I’m here, and Lissa…you need to let me speak before you even think about informing her.”

“—wait, what?” Maribelle’s hang-up was on the first part of his response, the second half never even registering within her mind. “Why does Vaike know? Why did you go to him about coming to see me rather than coming to me about it?”

“I needed to be sure that you weren’t planning for my arrival before it happened, so that whatever answer you give me is completely honest and off-the-cuff, not something you were able to decide in advance.” Drawing a chair up to the side of the desk, Frederick sat down in it, properly placing both of his hands on his knee to let them rest as he looked across the desk at Maribelle, her still standing and now looking at him with suspicion in her eyes. “Don’t assume it’s anything bad. It’s quite the opposite, really, but as the only person I could think of whose opinion on this would be trusted you were my only choice. And as you’re leaving town tonight I had to act quick, hence my arrival here.”

She let her eyes widen a bit, the suspicion fading from her face. “You need my opinion on something? Look, all I’m good for is opinions on laws regarding children, and maybe giving my husband a good time, but only one of those is something I can actually talk to you about. What’s your real reason for being here?”

“Stop acting so accusatory, Mari.” The tone Frederick took on in his short statement was harsh, unlike the carefree one he’d been using up to that point. It caught Maribelle by surprise, hearing him use the proper version of her name that she’d done her hardest to move past (but the people who’d known her since childhood would never have grown out of knowing it). “You are not letting me explain myself before you’re jumping to conclusions about why I’m here. I don’t need to know anything about the law, or about your bedroom escapades, I need to know about something that Lissa would like.”

But two could play at the standoffish game that he was starting, and she wasn’t going to turn him down. “Get more specific, she likes all sorts of things. Cute animals, pretty flowers, pastel colors, she’s into all of those things and more. How specific are you looking for me to go with this? I could tell you individual things if you wanted.”

“You know that you’re being difficult by giving that sort of answer, so why do you bother with it? You started answering before you let me finish making my request.”

“No, what you did was pause dramatically after making a statement and allowed for me to speak, it doesn’t count as me not letting you finish if you never intend on finishing until I’ve said something to cut you off.” Maribelle crossed her arms over her chest, bobbling her head a bit so that her ringlet curls bounced off her shoulders and onto her back. “Now go ahead, I guess, and finish requesting what you need me to do so I can do it.”

Frederick opened his mouth to speak, only to close it without a word, his jaw visibly tensing up as he thought about what he was going to say. This only made her even less amused with what was going on, but just as she was readying herself to come up with another remark he dropped all sense of being coy with his intentions and laid it down for her: “I was hoping you would assist me in coming up with an appropriate setting for a proposal. For Lissa. Who you know better than I could ever wish to.”

Frozen where she stood, all Maribelle could manage to do in the moment was look from her desk to Frederick, back down to her desk, then further down to her feet to make sure she was still standing and that she hadn’t fallen in the surprise of that statement. “Y-you’re going to propose to her? But you two haven’t been together that long, are you sure it’s a good idea to do that?”

“The thought that I am putting too much faith in what our relationship was before we started dating has crossed my mind at several points, but I cannot deny the fact that when we are together, we’ve always been happier than when we are apart.” She still hadn’t moved (aside from her eyes), so he couldn’t tell how she was taking the news. “Please, Mari, I need to make this just as special as she is, but I have no clue where to start.”

“You want me to help you come up with how you’re going to propose to my best friend.” A statement, not a question, as Maribelle worked through what was happening there in her office for her own sake. “You want me to help you with this, on _my_ anniversary, right before I’m going to leave for a week. You want me to come up with how you’re going to ask her to marry you, which you’re probably going to do when I’m not around to see it. You want my help, so that you can drag her through her happiness to break her heart later.”

“Now you’re taking this the wrong way, stop that.” Frederick reached out with one hand, offering it to Maribelle as a peaceful gesture; she locked eyes with it and did what any mature adult would do in her current position, smacking it out of the way. “I assumed you would be thrilled for this development, given how hard you lobbied for her to realize how I felt about her, why have you suddenly changed your tune on this?”

She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to answer, but the conflicted feelings bubbling inside of her were something that she was going to have to address right then. “It’s not that I’ve changed my tune, I just…don’t know if she’s going to be suited for marriage right yet. What if you go through all this effort to ask her and she turns you down because she thinks you’re joking? What if you make it to the wedding and she backs out then? She loves you but I don’t know if she _loves_ you.”

“How would you know that, you barely keep in touch with her unless she prompts you to.” It was a low blow, but Frederick was speaking the truth. “You’ve never once invited her and I over for a couples’ dinner, despite you being friends with both of us. You exclude her, you exclude me, and honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that I know you two know each other like the backs of your own hands, I wouldn’t bother coming to you about this.”

“Put yourself in my shoes for a second, will you? You’re asking me to help arrange the proposal between two friends I’ve had since childhood, don’t you think that’s a little, I don’t know, stressful of a situation?” While there was no defending that she was being a tad unreasonable, it was true that Maribelle was being faced with something that not very many people had to go through. “I think of you, I think of so many things that aren’t you dating Lissa, I think of you and Chrom being jerks to me because I wasn’t one of you boys, I think of you offering to take me home when I wasn’t able to drive myself, I think of what we did when we were younger. I don’t think of how you’re madly in love with my best friend.”

He countered that with a slow nod and a quick response that he gave even as he was still nodding. “And how do you think I felt when someone snatched you up without allowing for me to give my blessing to him for it?”

“We’d been together the whole time I was in college, why are you acting like you never had the chance to talk to Vaike about ‘snatching’ me or whatever?”

“Oh, trust me, we talked plenty about his relationship with you, he would always brag about it to anyone who would listen. But think back to what we were just saying, about how this is between two friends you’ve had since you were a child. Now think about what he did, think about how he never considered the opinion of someone who’d cared about _you_ since you were a child when he proposed to you.” She could have replied that his public, for-everyone proposal had been done with everyone’s input, but Frederick would then have been able to reply that she was referring to the second proposal, not the first.

And the details of the first were meant to be kept private, something that only they knew the full extent of. “I…see your point now,” she said, feeling herself getting flustered as she thought about what had been happening the first time she’d been proposed to. “So you want to do this once, do it right, and do it how she’ll love it.”

“That’s exactly it. I wouldn’t have come to you right now if I intended on doing this multiple times, but doing it multiple times seems like a waste of everyone else’s time.” He was ignoring that she was clearly flustering herself with thoughts about what he’d made her think back on. “Now would you be so kind as to assist me in planning this, or are you going to stay out of it and promise not to use it against me in the future?”

“I’ll help you, but hold on a second.” Having to compose herself before she got too off-track with what was now prominently on her mind, she walked away from the desk and took a few steps around the back half of her office, trying to clear her thoughts and get herself back in the moment. Once she figured she was going to be of some use, she retook her position at her desk, staring him down across the paper-covered surface. “Have you asked Chrom if this is okay? That’s his little sister you’re talking about marrying, and he’s your closest friend. You can’t cross that line unless he says so.”

“I have thrown the idea around with him, he understands that it’s ultimately not his decision and what he wants for his sister doesn’t matter as much as what she wants for himself, but he sees no issues with it. In fact, he told me that becoming legal brothers might be the best thing to happen to our relationship.” Frederick laughed, dry and almost forced, as if he wasn’t speaking the truth, but Maribelle knew he wouldn’t be lying to her in a situation where she could do fact-checking for herself. “He just wants me to make sure it’s what Lissa wants, and that she’s happy with whatever happens. Only the best for his sister.”

Laughing as well, Maribelle replied, “Sounds exactly like what someone who really doesn’t care would say on the situation. He’s so focused on his life, and his family, and his job, that he can’t be bothered with thinking too much about hers anymore. What a shame, he used to be a real protective older brother for her back in the day.”

“And you used to be a loyal best friend to her, but people change as they get older, it seems.” Her eyes widened at the bluntness of his statement, and he could tell that she was shocked that he decided he was going to cut her so deeply with those words. “Oh, you know I mean no harm by that. As an older brother figure in your life, I would hope that you’d understand that I enjoy joking around with you.”

She did understand, but there was still a line that she felt him saying that had crossed, especially as he was there to get her to help him with something. “There are jokes, and then there’s you being rude, and I think we both know what category what you just did falls under,” she said to him, trying her hardest to sound stern as she spoke. “Now apologize, or I will have to ask you to leave and stop wasting my time here.”

“What should I apologize for? For telling you the truth?” A silent moment passed between the two, where they stared at each other, him unflinching in his stance and her trying to decide how to respond; she retaliated by reaching for her phone, mouthing the words “calling security” at him. “There’s no need for that, Maribelle. Don’t cause a scene just because I reminded you that you’ve been severely slacking on your duties as best friend to my sweet Lissa.”

“Don’t refer to her like that to try and get me to stop trying to get rid of you.” Her hand was on the receiver, but she hadn’t picked it up and she certainly hadn’t dialed anything. “I get that you want me to help you out in all this, but you’ve got to do something to really deserve it, and right now you haven’t done a thing.”

“Does her happiness not matter to you?” he asked, reclining in his chair and losing all sense of formality as he sat. “Yours has always mattered to her, even if you haven’t allowed her to know what’s going on in your life. She asks about you frequently, always mentioning that she wishes she was still involved with you despite being busy all the time.”

“Who’s she asking? You? Because you don’t do anything about it if she is, this is the first time I’ve talked to you in a long time!” Maribelle sharply inhaled after her exclamation, grabbing the phone and picking it up, still not having dialed a single number. “You either explain to me right now why I should help you propose to my best friend, or I’m calling _her_ and letting her know you’re here.”

That threat was worse than the one she’d made to call security, and he shifted in his seat, now leaning forward until his head was almost resting on the edge of the desk. “I would prefer you not do that, she doesn’t need to know what I’m planning for her. You should help me because you want to see her happy, you want to see her in love, and you want to inevitably be invited to take part in her wedding when it happens.”

“I do love an opportunity to get dressed up,” she conceded, setting the phone back down much to his relief. “I mean, I’m getting dressed up this week when I’m on my trip, but dressing for weddings is…different than dressing for casual functions. I guess I could try and come up with something for you, if you promise you’ll fight for me to be in the wedding.”

“If not on her side, then on mine, you have my word.” Sitting back up so that he could hold out a hand, all fingers bent closed except an outstretched pinky, Frederick waited for an extended period of time as Maribelle looked at his gesture before replicating it with her own hand, intertwining their pinkies. “You’ll make a lovely fixture in the ceremony when it happens, no matter who you’re there for. Now shall we get to discussing this, and quickly? I know you’re almost out of here for your trip.”

“My trip can wait a few extra minutes, I’m helping with my friends getting married!” Jerking her hand away after their lengthy pinky promise, Maribelle clasped it into her other hand and spun around on her toes, before getting serious with a throat-clearing cough. “Now where to begin, kindling romantic connections isn’t something I typically do in my preferred line of work.”

He chuckled, giving her a shrug. “That’s why I asked you what she likes, I was thinking you’d be able to come up with something based on her interests. My issue is that a lot of her favorite things are intangible, or not anything I could easily replicate. Do you think something simple will have to do?”

“With Lissa, simple’s good, but you should always strive for excellent. Which means, uh, we’re really going to have to think on this one, because I’m sure she’s imagined being proposed to as some fantastical experience. Not something in a park, not something at home, not something in the bedroom…” Her trailing off was in time with her remembering her own proposal, and the dreamy sigh she emitted not long after clued Frederick in to what had just happened.

Even with his best attempts to keep her focused on what he needed and not her own experience, he had to continuously have to remind her to think back to what Lissa would like, not what she’d gone through herself. Due to that, their discussion was constantly sidetracked and dragged on much longer than it should have, especially since she was supposed to be finishing up her work and getting out of the office during the time they were talking. Progress was made, however, and there was no denying that they’d come up with at least the first steps to creating a perfect proposal for someone who mattered to both of them.

As they finished up, she decided she’d walk him out of the building, rather than force him to go out by himself. While he saw it as a gesture of kindness, she had other reasons for why she was accompanying him to the door, and the moment she heard the receptionist still at his computer, typing away at something, she knew her moment was upon her. “That was a productive conversation we had,” she said to him, seemingly out of the blue once they’d made it to the waiting area. “I hope you’ve learned some things from what I’ve told you.”

“Er, yes, I could say that I have,” he replied, not catching on that she wasn’t being serious. “Maribelle, what are you getting at?”

“For someone of such a proper position in this society, it’s a real shame that you’ve found yourself having to come to a lawyer who specializes in defending children, but I appreciate that you’re taking enough responsibility in your actions to see me.” Now he knew she was joking with him, based on how he was looking at her with quickly-narrowing eyes, and she had to struggle to not start laughing as she continued on. “However, I must confess that there’s little I can do about unborn children, unless you have proof they are going to be born to an unfit mother, and even then it’s dicey.”

“You’re not being funny right now.” His reply was blunt, and there wasn’t even a hint of an amused expression on his face as he spoke to her. “Is this really how you want to end our discussion, by pretending we were talking about something we weren’t? I would consider that a rather low blow, even for you, Mari.”

She winked at him, before checking to see if the receptionist had so much as looked in their direction. He was engrossed in his work, which meant that what she was doing was useless at best, and was most likely doing nothing but irritate Frederick. Not like she was going to complain about a free chance to do that, though. “Let me know how everything goes once you’ve taken care of it, I’m curious as to how your issues will turn out.”

“I cannot believe you, is this really necessary right here? Right now? People could still be listening and they’re going to think I’m the kind of man to partake in unsavory endeavors, which is far from the truth.” Her second wink in his direction was met with an eyeroll and a turn for the exit, which was stopped by her grabbing onto his arm and pulling for him to come back. “Unhand me at once and let me leave, Maribelle. Your little game isn’t as fun for me as you’d like it to be.”

“It’s all just a joke,” she replied, slowly letting go of him so he could make his way out of the office. “Seriously though, let me know how it goes, whenever you get around to asking her. You’ve got to make an honest woman of my best friend, and soon!” That might have been worse of a comment to make than any of her jokes, because it was genuine and anyone who might have been listening could tell that she was being serious about it. Frederick stopped where he stood and turned back around, raising an angered finger to point at her, and she grinned. “Get back to me about what you’re trying to do once you’ve done it, I’d love to keep in touch with you.”

The finger was dropped and Frederick left without another word, although when the door closed on him the receptionist looked away from his computer and at Maribelle, trying not to laugh as he did. “Remember how I mentioned that he asked for you by full name?” he asked, catching Maribelle’s attention just with the sound of his voice. “That was the first time I’d ever heard anyone do that for you, putting the space between the parts of your name. Who was that guy, and why was he here?”

“A childhood friend of mine, nothing unusual. He was here for personal matters, as I’m sure he told you when he arrived.” She was watching the receptionist now, waiting for him to say anything else, but he remained silent, glancing at his computer screen. “Well, did he tell you that? It’s not like him to not be transparent with people.”

“He did tell me,” he answered, his attention waning from his screen but not focusing on her yet again. “Introduced himself with his full name, which sounded really familiar for some reason. Threw him into an online search, which I’m sure is creepy on a bunch of levels but I was curious, okay?” Maribelle knew what was coming next, she knew why someone would have heard of Frederick before but wouldn’t have recognized him when they saw his face. “Did you know that he’s the right-hand man to one of the most prominent and influential men in all of Ylisse? Here, in our office, wanting to talk to you for personal reasons?”

“I never would have guessed. Next, you’ll look up pictures of them together and find me in them.” She beamed at the receptionist, who stared blankly at her for a moment before going right back to his typing and searching on his computer. “If you don’t believe me, that’s fine, but I’ve known those men for a lot longer than you could believe. Since childhood, even. We all used to be like this—” she raised her hands and showed him crossed fingers, “—but since one of them took over the chair of the healthcare system in Ylisse and the other ascended to his high-profile assistant, I can’t say we’ve been as close as we were.”

“Oh wow, miss Maribelle! I didn’t know you were friends with someone who’s basically royalty!” She inwardly cringed at the idea, knowing that the person being referred to would shake off the concept that he was royalty just because of what he’d inherited from his family. “I can’t believe that you know these men, that’s just amazing!”

“Yes, yes, fawn over them as much as you’d like, they’re just friends to me.” Awkwardly shuffling back towards her office, she managed to catch a split-second’s look at what was on his screen before it was gone, replaced with actual work: he wasn’t just looking up pictures of people, but rather entire biographies of them to see what roles they played in their society. That was something she’d never considered, her place in that kind of history, and she really hoped that no one had thrown her name down onto the online profiles of her more high-ranking friends. Part of her job that she loved was her lack of involvement in cases involving people with any kind of fame, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Checking up on that was something she’d have to do after her trip though, and since it was time for her to be heading home she needed to get everything finished before she could leave. The conversation with Frederick had taken much more of her time than it should have, but scolding herself for it would have only resulted in more time being wasted on the matter. She needed to finish sorting paperwork and case files for while she was gone and for her return, then get home and finishing packing her bags for the trip. The papers weren’t hard to organize, and after she considered them as done as they were going to get she grabbed her things and went to leave.

The receptionist was still at his desk, one of the biography windows his active screen. “Can I ask you one thing before you leave for the week?” His question stopped her before she had the chance to exit the building, and she quietly sighed, cursing her luck before telling him that he could ask one single thing. “If you’ve known these guys for so long, why didn’t you marry one of them? The women they’re with are so…plain compared to you.”

The comparison was not anything she wanted to hear in that moment, and so she kindly told him to not speak to her in that manner before leaving, going to her car and sitting in it in silence for a few minutes before driving off. Everything that had happened in there, from Frederick showing up to the receptionist getting star-struck, it wasn’t anything that she felt she needed in her life right then. She was happy to be of use in planning a proposal, but the timing for the discussion was all wrong and had thrown what she’d been intending to do with her day into total disarray. Now she was over half an hour off schedule and that time wasn’t going to be easily made back up.

It was while she was driving home that she got lost in her thoughts about what had just happened there in the office. Not the part about her conversation with Frederick, but the part that came after that. The part where she’d looked at the screen her receptionist was working at and saw pages open on it that were titled with the names of people she’d grown up with. The page titled _Chrom Lowell_ , that was about the man who held the highest non-medical position in the hospital system in Ylisse, that most likely talked about his dead parents and his murdered older sister, that was bound to have a section about his younger sister as well as his young family that he was so proud of. The page titled _Frederick Ardmore,_ that was about his loyal assistant and best friend who’d been at his side as long as they’d both been alive, that most likely made mention of that same younger sister (and if it did, would soon mention her as his fiancée, which was astounding to Maribelle in that moment). Had there been a page about herself that he’d found in his search, or would she have just been a footnote in either of their histories?

The realization that if she became important enough to the legal system of Ylisse she could end up with her own online biographies, someone could search her and find information on her exactly like they could Chrom or Frederick made her stomach lurch but a sense of pride course through her. She’d come from a position of wealth, but she’d given up her claims to that money when she’d gotten married—was that something that would be denoted online? Could she look up her parents, look up anything about the Themis bloodline, and find information about herself and how she’d married for love and not for fortune? But that wasn’t about her and what she’d done with herself, that was about where she’d come from and what those people had done. She needed to achieve fame and recognition by being herself and doing what she did best.

Her thinking lasted her most of the way home, but she found herself making a wrong turn and needing to enter the neighborhood a different way than usual thanks to her distraction. There was a stop that usually spelled trouble that she’d need to make, a blind corner that she’d have to hope no one would whip around when she had the right of way in the intersection, because people always went too fast around it and blew through the stop sign that they were supposed to wait at. Since she was already mentally distracted, sitting there felt like it was going to be more perilous than usual, and she braced herself for whatever danger she was going to face by narrowly missing yet another car running a stop.

The danger met her before she even went through the intersection, as she was slowing down to take the stop. There was someone right behind her, that seemed to be riding rather close to her back bumper but was meeting her step-for-step when it came to braking and accelerating; it wasn’t until she looked in her rear-view mirror for more than a second that she recognized the front end of the vehicle as being the one that her husband used for work. Amused that he was going the same way she was, despite both of them hating the intersection they were having to go through, she rolled her window down and stuck a hand out to wave at him, hoping he’d find the gesture cute and wave back at her.

Instead, what she got was a sudden jolt forward as she was trying to slow down, the sound of brakes behind her squealing much louder than they should have been given that they were on residential streets. It wasn’t a hard impact, and she was thankful that there was no one in front of her as she’d been slowing for that stop, but the first chance she had to get out of the car to see what had happened she knew she wasn’t going to like what she was going to see.

There wasn’t much damage to the first car she looked at, which wasn’t her own but rather the one that had just slammed into her. Seeing that car that she recognized pushed right into hers made her stomach drop more than what she’d been thinking about before had, and she hoped that this hadn’t just been Vaike not paying attention and hitting her on complete accident. That was when she heard the sound of metal dragging across the ground, followed by the attempted revving of an engine; as she tried to go investigate the source she was stopped by a strong arm wrapping itself around her. “Maribelle, please tell me you’re okay after that, I know it wasn’t a hard hit but I don’t wanna be responsible for you gettin' hurt.”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” she told her husband, as he pulled her in closely for a hug. “What happened to you? Shouldn’t you know how to drive a bit better than that?”

“Someone hit me and it hit me into ya, I’m sorry ‘bout that.” The revving sound was almost drowning out Vaike’s words as he spoke, and he looked around, almost irritated with the sound. “You try and drive your car home the best y’can, I’ll see if I can get info from the person who caused this and set everythin’ straight. If we need authorities involved, y’know I’ve got some ‘a them as contacts in my phone.” He was letting go of her, already moving towards the back of his vehicle, where the source of the noise seemed to be.

She didn’t want to go, but she assumed that he’d heard enough about traffic accidents from his friends that he knew what he was talking about. When she turned around to head back to her car she saw that the back end of it was pushed in, and she knew that once she’d moved it, it might have been completely unrecognizable as the car she’d received as a gift from graduating college. “Please don’t do anything stupid out here by yourself, I won’t be here to save you if you do,” she said under her breath, skip-walking back to the driver’s seat of the car and jumping right back in.

There wasn’t much in the way of issues regarding how the car drove from there to the house, but she was certain that if she’d needed to go any further than that it might have been more difficult. Once she’d parked it outside of the house she had inspected the damage further and found that the trunk simply did not open anymore, and she was thankful that she hadn’t had anything stored in it. The taillights were busted, the bumper hanging on but clearly displaced, and she was surprised that there didn’t seem to be much more damage than that, but it was still noticeable and ultimately horrible damage to have on her car in the first place. But there wasn’t much she could do about it in that moment, she’d driven home from the scene of the accident and she wasn’t going to go against what she’d been told to do for the sake of solving things herself. She was going to have to wait for Vaike to get home, and then listen to him for what they were going to do about the accident.

That was a long period of time that she was sitting there waiting, out on the front step of the house because she didn’t want to go inside and miss anyone coming by if they needed to speak with her. It was already late in the day and it was only getting later, she was still behind on what she needed to do for trip preparations and at this point she wasn’t entirely sure they were still going to get to go, which was not a pleasant thought as they had already paid for their tickets for everything. Non-refundable decisions seemed to ultimately come to this end, something happening to ruin what they had expected to have happen.

Eventually she did see her husband’s vehicle pull up, decal on the side that had his work information on it visible from where she was sitting. Behind him was an unfamiliar car, but based on the fact that it didn’t seem damaged she had a hard time guessing who might have been in it. The two cars parked in the street and she went to greet Vaike before he could come up to the house, but as she approached him he held a hand out to stop her. “No, Maribelle, this ain’t the time. We’re finishin’ up all the information compilin’, if ya wanna be a help here you’ll get the stuff outta your car so we’ve got it on file.”

“Who’s we?” she asked, changing her direction so that she ended up on the passenger side of her car, opening the door and getting into the glove box to find her stack of papers inside of it. “Which officer did you end up needing to call into this mess?”

“Who d’ya think? I only know like three ‘a them, and one ain’t even an actual officer, he just works at the jail.” Even with her head in the car she’d still been heard by him and he’d still been able to properly reply to her question. “And even then, I’m handlin’ this business, y’didn’t see the dude’s car and y’didn’t almost get hit by him runnin’ scared, y’were involved but y’weren’t a witness in the end. Just gimme the papers and go inside.”

She’d retrieved what she was looking for and was walking the papers over to him when she saw that in his other hand, not the one waiting for her to give him something, was a license plate that didn’t belong to either of them. “Oh gods, he hit you hard enough to leave that behind? How did he not grab that and take it with him?”

“It was some kid who probably shouldn’t’ve been drivin’, apparently the car ain’t registered t’anyone and looks like it was stolen or somethin’ like that. Now can y’please do what I told ya and go inside? I’ve got this all under control.” It wasn’t typical for Vaike to take such strong ownership to something and as much as Maribelle wanted to get involved she didn’t want to seem like she was doubting his capabilities.

But now that she was given clearance to be inside, she ran in and started packing everything up as fast and efficiently as she could, just in case they were still going to be able to take their trip. Every so often she would check outside through a window to see if they were still standing outside discussing what had happened, and it was from her inside vantage point that she eventually realized that she’d been forced inside because the officer he’d called on was the one person he could stand around talking to for hours and never get tired of. “Of course he called him, why would I expect anything less from my smart and charming husband?” she sarcastically asked, shaking her head at the sight before going back to packing.

Night was on the verge of falling when Vaike finally came inside the house, laughing about something that had been said while he’d been outside. Maribelle was at the door waiting for him, looking more concerned than disappointed in how long he’d taken to settle everything, but the moment he saw her his demeanor changed and he went to having a grim expression upon his face. “Good news, bad news, I guess,” he said, closing the door and leaning against the wall, her watching him expectantly. “Good news, we ain’t gonna be responsible for any ‘a this ‘cause we weren’t the reason for it happenin’, we just happened t’hit each other ‘cause of that punk kid. Bad news, until they find the brat we’re havin’ t’shoulder the cost of fixin’ up your car, and I’m gonna have t’pull into work funds t’fix mine. But that’s not all bad, I wouldn’t say, it’s just a temp fix until they find ‘im.”

“That’s a lot of money we’re going to be spending up front, don’t you think?” She wasn’t that knowledgeable about what car repairs cost, but she could tell from what she’d seen of her car’s back end that it was heavily damaged from having a larger vehicle pushed into it. “And we’re supposed to be out of town this week! It’s our anniversary and instead of romantic dinners and hotel rooms we’re sitting at home dealing with someone having wrecked both our cars on us!”

“H-hey now, we don’t need t’get so upset about things, ya should know that the Vaike always has a plan for this kind of thing.” He grabbed her into a big hug, lifting her feet off the ground and spinning her around a couple times before setting her back down, still looking serious but at least a little more relaxed. “We’re still gonna go on our trip, we’ve got people ‘round here who’ll bail us outta this situation. Just ‘cause we can’t call on your rich parents doesn’t mean we don’t have other rich people who want t’help us.”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking about who it was that he could have asked to assist them, but with so many possibilities she decided to leave it at his vague explanation. “Well, okay, if you insist that we have people to rely on who am I to question it? I’ve already packed our things, if you still wanted to head out tonight. What we need right this moment is a vacation from our vacation, it seems.”

“Let’s at least get t’the actual trip ‘fore you’re sayin’ that sorta thing, hm?” He cracked a smile that made her giggle, his attitude towards everything that had happened so entertaining to her. “You grab the bags, I’ll make some room in the back ‘a my car, since yours ain’t exactly usable right now. Hopefully nothin’ we’re bringin’ gets too dirty from the spot we’re gonna haveta put it, but it ain’t like we’ve got a choice.”

They did have a choice, they could have decided to not go and call the whole thing a wash, but admitting defeat would have meant they’d be out money that they then could have been using to cover the costs of the now-wrecked car. At least going on the trip meant that they had a week away from responsibilities, a week away from work and routine, a week where the only people that mattered to them were themselves and each other. Time spent on shows, on exploring the cute resort they’d found outside of their home base, on reconnecting and getting to relax together.

And when they were on their way home a week later, rejuvenated and ready to take on everything they’d left behind when they committed to their trip, Maribelle was greeted with a mess of messages from one excited best friend, who’d been surprised with a simple proposal in one of her favorite places in Ylisstol, after a day spent doing all the things she loved doing with people she cared about. In one of those messages, tacked on at the end almost as if it was a last-minute addition, was a note about how she was willing to help her in exchange for what she’d done to make the proposal happen.

What if the person that Vaike had expected to help them out had been Lissa all along, knowing that Maribelle had just helped Frederick to help her out? It was possible, and she did consider it, but that was an awful lot of he-said, she-said just to cover the cost of an unfortunate car wreck.

 


	5. The Penny

It wasn’t unusual for work-related calls to come in early in the morning, but it was unusual for it to be more than one call at a time. What normally happened was the phone would ring, it would be ignored, and whoever was calling would leave a voicemail to be replied to once it wasn’t so early in the day. This time, though, the caller seemed to really need to get their request for work in, because they called multiple times, barely a pause in the ringing between their calls. It was annoying, it was bothersome, it had Maribelle burying her head in her pillow trying to drown out the sound, and it had Vaike pulling himself out of bed to answer whoever it was trying to get him to do something for them.

“I’m sorry that this is being done so early,” the voice on the other side said immediately after Vaike had tiredly introduced himself upon picking up the call, “but there’s a slight issue in some plans that have been made and we could use someone who knows a thing or two about patching up mistakes to come sort things out.”

“Yeah, okay sure, but what’re ya talkin’ about? Me, patchin’ up mistakes? Where’d ya hear that one from?” He was having to stifle a yawn as he spoke, as to not seem rude to the person he was talking to. “Don’t ya know it’s rude t’start demandin’ stuff from someone without them knowin’ who you are?”

“You didn’t check to see who was calling before you answered, did you? Look at what number I’m calling from, you’ll answer that question in no time.” The person seemed to be amused at his ignorance to who they were, and Vaike didn’t find their response funny but pulled the phone away long enough to look at the number—one he’d had saved in his phone since the day he’d gotten the phone itself, having had the number much, much longer than that. His loud gasp was partnered with a string of apologies for being so thickheaded about the call’s origin once he’d returned to the call, the person on the other side laughing. “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t recognize it was me from the sound of my voice.”

“You’re actin’ like you call me often, Chrom, which ya don’t. Usually it’s someone else callin’ to arrange somethin’, never you though. So what’s this issue in your plans, and how are ya expectin’ me to help with it?” He could see Maribelle moving her pillow off her face, eyes wide at the mention of Chrom’s name, and he waved her concern off. “Oh, also, I think Maribelle heard me sayin’ it was you callin’, you wanna answer what question she’s gonna ask before she asks it?”

Chrom cleared his throat rather than answer anything right away. “This isn’t the time for her getting involved, although if you do choose to help us out you’re more than welcome to invite her along. I’m sure she’d enjoy sitting with Sumia and Lissa while we figure out everything about this…situation.”

“Dodgin’ the question it seems, but I gotcha, when d’ya need this taken care of?” It wasn’t an everyday occurrence for Chrom to mention his own wife in conversation, and if she and his sister were going to be somewhere, then it had to be important. “I can’t promise today or tomorrow, but day after that? Next week? Totally available for helpin’ ya then.”

“As soon as possible would be appreciated, we had a bit of an incident moving some things around and now half a wall is missing. Half of a very important wall, that sort of separates two rooms from one another.” Even though this was a phone conversation, Vaike knew Chrom well enough to know he was definitely looking at the so-called missing wall as he was discussing it. “You can fit us in quickly, can’t you?”

Looking around the room for the nearest clock, and finding nothing that was easily accessible, Vaike had to pull his phone away again to check the time, then reenter the call with a non-committal noise. “It’s too close t’me havin’ to go t’work, I can’t commit right now t’anythin’. Day after tomorrow’s probably the first day I’ll be able t’do anythin’, which sucks if this wall’s really that important. Would that be okay?”

“I’m the one inconveniencing you with our issues, if the time works for you we will make it work for us. You’ll need directions to the new place, which I’ll give to you when it’s not so early in the morning. Sorry again for this being done at this time, I just wanted to catch you before you got to work and I got into my meetings for the day.” Chrom ended the call not long after that, a lingering silence hanging over their last moments on the phone.

“What was that about?” Maribelle asked, having gotten up and out of bed despite the early hour and there being no need for her to be awake right then. “Did something bad happen, or was he just calling you to chat, or what? I need explanation, and quickly, before I call Lissa myself to see what’s going on.”

“Is that always your first threat whenever somethin’ happens?” Setting his phone aside so that he could make full use of both hands, Vaike grabbed Maribelle’s shoulders and shook her a bit, just enough to make her visibly sway and get annoyed with what he was doing. “He was just callin’ to ask me for some help in a couple days. Guess they broke a wall when movin’ stuff around, which—”

“Moving? Still? I thought Lissa had said they’d gotten everything settled in by last night, why are they moving things again?” Of course Maribelle knew that part of the story, which she’d been told and hadn’t been firsthand witness to. “Naturally they break something while moving, it was a miracle they didn’t break anything of ours when they were helping us when we moved in here.”

“—y’know, it’d help if ya didn’t cut me off and start tellin’ stories of your own, I was tryin’ t’say that I didn’t know anyone was movin’ this week in the first place. Last I heard, they weren’t even gettin' the house ‘til the end of the month, but I guess that changed.” He lifted his hands off her shoulders and headed towards the bedroom door, only retracing his steps to grab his phone once he realized he was going to need it. “I’m gonna just go make a quick call t’see who else was involved in all this, just so I can get a feel for what’s gotta be fixed. Can’t go in expectin’ t’fix drywall when you’re endin’ up fixin’ bricks, right?”

Maribelle stared blankly at him as she watched him go towards the door for a second time. “I don’t understand what you’re saying at all, if I’m completely honest. Is it as straightforward as I think it should be? Shouldn’t assume it’ll be one way when it’s another?”

“Somethin’ like that, yeah. Lemme just go make this call and see what’s up, then we can talk more about it after that.” He stopped after putting his hand on the doorknob, turning it in time with looking over his shoulder at his still-obviously-tired wife. “And just for you, I’ll ask and see what’s goin’ on with all that other stuff. Not the plans, though, that ain’t my gig to be messin’ with.”

“You’re calling Frederick, aren’t you?” she asked, running a hand over her messy, disorganized head of hair while trying to get it to lie flat. When he didn’t respond and instead opened the door, she raised her voice to call out, “Don’t you dare ask him anything, he shouldn’t be the one we’re getting any information from about any of that! I’ll ask Lissa myself, organize a coffee date or something to do it, but don’t you dare bring it up with Frederick or else you’ll never get a straight answer!”

“Relax, I know better than t’ask him about weddin’ plans, we’ve gone over this before. He doesn’t know anythin’, it’s all Lissa’s deal, and she’s only tellin’ you stuff because you’re helpin’ her plan the thing. I was referrin’ more to the other thing you’ve been non-stop talkin’ about whenever you get the chance.” It must have been too early in the morning for her to understand what was going on because she didn’t say anything else, but he could hear her footsteps as she went back to her side of the bed and grabbed her phone, the sounds of her typing something the last thing he heard coming from the bedroom.

As he figured, when he tried calling Frederick he was met with a voicemail message prompting him to leave his name and number so he could be called back later. “I know it’s early, but Chrom just let me know somethin’ happened at the new place and I need t’know actual details so I can help ya out, call me back,” he said rather rapidly, not wanting his message to go on too long. “Just don’t be mad if I don’t answer when ya do, with work and all that. We’ll figure this all out somehow though.”

When he hung up, he found himself standing in the middle of the living room, having walked further than expected while distracted with his phone. He looked around, mentally taking note of everything in there that he’d remodeled or completely replaced in the time they’d been living in the house. Buying this particular place had been a financial burden, because of all the work that needed to be done to make it truly livable, but after the close to three years of off-and-on work he’d been putting into it, he could consider it almost done. The only thing stopping him from considering it complete was one patch of wall where some bare nails were still hammered in, nothing hanging from them. Maribelle had always talked about buying some artwork to hang there, but he’d wanted something better than someone else’s art to adorn their walls: he wanted pictures of them.

“What are you doing, noticing that we’re still missing art in places?” Without him realizing it, Maribelle had come out into the room as well, and she was standing a couple steps away, shaking her head at him. “We should get on fixing that sometime, it would look a lot better in here if we’d just decorate it.”

“Are we really here enough t’justify spendin’ all that money on art for hangin’ it on the wall? We’re both always at work, or out with people, or just not at home, hangin’ somethin’ cheaper seems like it’d make more sense.” He had a serious misunderstanding of how much large portraits would cost, but Maribelle was always too amused by his insistence to correct him, even though she never gave in to his suggestion. “But I know how y’feel about the pictures of us thing, so how ‘bout this, we ask ol’ Panne where her and her man got that cool banner on their wall at their place and get one of those for ourselves.”

Straight-lipped for a moment as she thought of how to reply, the corners of Maribelle’s cheeks ticked upwards as she found something to smile at in what he’d said. “The only reason you suggest that is because it’s a _family_ name thing, and you’d be so proud every time our friends came into the house to see your name up on the wall.” She was right, that was exactly why he’d suggested that very thing, but she had something to add to try and change his mind. “You are aware their first names are on that too, aren’t you? You try so hard to convince everyone that you go by your first name that putting that up would ruin it. I’m going to have to say no to this too.”

“I’m sure we could make some modifications to it, y’know? It doesn’t always haveta match what someone else has at their place.” Shrugging her rejection off, Vaike thought about if he had any other suggestions he could have made for the wall space, but his two options were the family name banner or the portraits and now that both had been rejected he wasn’t sure what else he could throw out there. “But whatever, there’s other stuff that’s gotta get done today, and there ain’t any part of it that involves us standin’ around here admirin’ what we’ve got. Work doesn’t wait for anyone, yeah?”

“You’re right, but I hope you aren’t thinking about going to work dressed as you are.” She was clearly stifling a laugh and after a moment Vaike understood why that was: in all that time between being woken up and the current moment, he’d never bothered to put anything on past what he’d fallen asleep in. At least Maribelle was wearing something that looked remotely passable for actual clothing, but if he’d tried walking out the front door in his current clothes he’d have been arrested for public indecency. He raised a finger to give a rebuttal but thought better of it, heading back into the bedroom instead to get something appropriate on before he considered leaving again.

In the middle of getting dressed, Maribelle came back in and sat on the bed, crossing her legs in front of her as she watched him put his shirt on. “Am I givin’ ya a show right now?” he asked her, without even looking to see what she was doing. “’cept I know ya, Maribelle, you’re in here ‘cause ya want somethin’ from me.”

“Oh, you know, it’s just the usual,” she replied, batting her eyelashes as she brushed her hand against one of her thighs, which was exposed due to how she was sitting as well as the short length of her nightgown. “We hardly ever spend quality time together in the mornings before we’re off to work, and since we’re both awake right now, I was wondering if…well, we could do just that.”

“Quality time like what? A nice breakfast? Watchin’ part of a movie? Ya gotta get more specific than that!” He was turning to face her, seeing the soured expression on her lips at his dense reaction to what she’d said. “Er, Maribelle, ya ain’t expectin’ us t’do anythin’ right now, are ya?”

“Not at all, I was just—”

“Good, ‘cause bringin’ up the idea of a nice breakfast really got me thinkin’, maybe we could go out and do that ‘fore we go off to work? It’s been a long while since we last went out for a meal just the two of us, and since we’re both awake it could happen right now.” Cutting her off had been done only to keep her from suggesting something else that would distract his tired and hungry mind from what he needed before a day of doing his handyman job, and even though Maribelle looked to be upset that he didn’t give her a chance to fully explain what she’d been going for she reluctantly agreed to go along with it. Her getting ready for work was a much longer process than it was for him, but they were still able to decide on somewhere to eat and individually drive themselves there with plenty of time to have a decent meal before they had to go on their way.

It should have been a decent meal, anyway, but as was rather standard for them something went amiss mid-meal that needed to be taken care of before anything else. That happened to be Vaike’s phone ringing again, him scrambling to pick it up and answer whoever was calling without disturbing anyone else around them too much. “It’s me again, I can’t believe I’m having to say this but we might need you to come in tonight to help square this away. Since the last call the wall’s only crumbled more, it might be threatening the structure as a whole and we need that checked.” Chrom hadn’t even given him a chance to greet the call before he’d thrown everything out in the open, and now it was time to react.

That reaction happened to be a scrunched-up mouth and a moment to think, while Maribelle glared at her husband from across the table, unamused that he’d taken a call during their meal. “I can try my best t’get over there tonight, but there’s really no promises I can make ‘bout it,” he said, dodging Maribelle’s glare as it intensified. “Especially if it is a threat t’the whole house, then it might be too much for one man in one night.”

Laughing, Chrom made sure to correct the misunderstanding that he could tell was being made. “Did you think I was going to make you take care of this all on your own? No, Frederick and I will assist you in whatever ways we can, but we need a more professional opinion on how to go about fixing this.”

“In that case, I’ll get over there once I’m off tonight. But for now, I gotta get back t’eatin’ breakfast with Maribelle, she’s tryin’ t’kill me with her eyes just for talkin’ t’ya.” Hanging up the phone and putting it on the table just in case it rang again, Vaike looked over at Maribelle and gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry ‘bout that, it was Chrom again. Whatever it is they did t’that house, it’s lookin’ like a real problem, I guess.”

“So you’re going to head over there after work and leave me to fend for myself at home? I see how it is, you’re picking your friends over me.” Giving an indignant _hmph_ as she turned her nose up at him, Maribelle waited until he heard him properly say sorry before she said anything else. “That’s fine, I can just meet you over there once I’m done working, or beat you there if I finish early. I’m sure Lissa will enjoy the company, but that’s if she’s off work then too…”

“Meet me there, I don’t mind it, Chrom had mentioned ya goin’ there initially anyway so it’s not like it’ll be unexpected if ya show up. But he was talkin’ ‘bout him helpin’ me out, so I wouldn’t be surprised if somehow that translates t’ya helpin’ as well.” That suggestion was one that Vaike was only making to get Maribelle to want to stay away from whatever it was he was going to end up doing, because he knew that she’d never want to get her hands dirty with that kind of work and none of them would be foolish enough to ask her to join them.

She recognized immediately that he wasn’t being serious and had to keep herself from laughing, which she managed to do by shoveling a quick bite of food into her mouth. Once she’d swallowed it, the urge to laugh had faded and she was able to resume normal conversation. “Okay, but we can’t spend all night over there, we both have to work tomorrow morning as well.”

“I’m aware ‘a that, it’s why I originally told Chrom this was gonna have t’wait a couple days, but he’s seriously worried about it bein’ a huge deal that needs handlin’ right away. If it starts gettin' late while we’re there we’ll just haveta call it a night, I’m sure all ‘a them will understand us puttin’ jobs before helpin’ friends.” That brought the question to mind of if he was going to get paid for this kind of work, or if it was going to be seen as a friendly favor he was completing for them. If money was exchanged, then he’d be more okay with sacrificing sleep to get the job done right, but if it was entirely free then he would have no regrets telling everyone he needed to call it a night when the time came.

“Oh, whatever you say, I have a feeling that you’re not going to hold yourself to that when the time comes.” Even if she ended up getting proven right, it still wasn’t fair for Maribelle to immediately take the negative side of the argument, but there wasn’t any time to spend debating if he was telling the truth or not. They needed to finish eating and get on their separate ways, working through the grind of the day before going through with the commitment he’d signed them up for. The rest of their meal was in silence, minus the acknowledging of their server as she came around to check on them, and once they were done they paid and left, separating outside the front door after sharing a kiss and a promise that nothing would happen that night that would keep them out later than needed.

It ended up being an oddly warm late winter day, one that made working outside actually bearable for a change. Typically at that time of year there would be a sharp wind that would blow through any amount of clothing anyone was wearing, or the sky would be spitting drizzly rain that made working on exterior tasks much harder than necessary; with a calm breeze and no clouds in the sky there was nothing stopping Vaike from getting his job done a lot quicker than usual. He’d been recruited to construct someone’s flowerbeds before the spring season came, a large plot of land being completely renovated so that there could be a decent-sized garden in place of a barren yard, and without rain or wind deterring him it was a lot more fun than he thought it’d be to dig up the dirt and replace it.

This was a solo activity and he was thankful for that almost as much as he was thankful for the nice weather, although having someone working alongside him would have been nice if only for the chance of conversation. “I don’t know why people knock on this kind ‘a work, it ain’t that bad if you’re good at it,” he said to himself as he looked at the perimeter of the garden he’d started building, stained wood stacked to form makeshift borders that he’d be spending the next several shifts getting finalized. “I mean, it’s definitely preferable t’some ‘a that other stuff I’ve done, even if it ain’t a dream job.”

His eyes drifted from the wall to the stack of tools he’d brought with him, things he’d bought with his own money because he wanted to say he owned them. There was something about providing his own materials that made him feel more useful than others in his same line of work, but at the same time he knew that people most likely preferred when their contracted workers used standard tools, not their own. “If anyone’s got a problem with how I do things, there’s a pair ‘a friends they can meet,” he always would say when asked about that very issue, holding up his fists as if he was going to punch at someone.

Whoever he was talking to would take it as a joke, because while he was rough around the edges he didn’t seem to be the kind of person who’d actually fight someone; it was true that he wouldn’t fight _anymore_ , but back before he’d had the steady employment that this job provided he’d gotten himself into a fistfight or two just to make ends meet. That was a secret he wasn’t going to let Maribelle know about, that he’d actually done some fighting in order to make money to provide for her back when she’d been in school and they’d been dating, and as long as he didn’t run into anyone that had been in those fighting rings he assumed he’d be fine. But with every job call that he took on, the fear that the person hiring him was someone that’d recognize him from those days was present in his mind.

If all else failed, he’d have to come clean about what he’d done, but with the assurance that the fights were all legal and that he hadn’t ever killed someone. Maribelle was always going on about the law, if she knew that he hadn’t broken it then she wouldn’t get upset about something that had happened years in the past, for her sake. “Gah, damn it Vaike y’can’t be gettin' caught up in your thoughts like this when you’ve got things t’do, gardens t’create, money t’make, all that nonsense.” He shook his head, bringing himself back into the real world so that he could resume working, knowing that what he was doing was not going to get finished in one day and that his only requirement was that he stop for the day at a point that he could easily resume work the following day.

Knowing that he had something he was going to be doing that night, he decided that he would do himself a favor for the future and make the jumping-in point for when he got back the next day something very easy to remember. The border wasn’t going to be finished in a day, but if he forgot where in the wall he was working he’d be stuck having to tear the whole thing apart when it failed at holding in the dirt, so when he was finishing for the day he left a noticeable gap in between where he’d properly built the border and where it still needed to be worked on. “No one’s stupid enough t’leave a hole like that in the border, no matter how tired they might be when they get back t’work, I think that’ll do just fine,” he told himself, admiring the perfect little gap that anyone would look at and recognize as not being part of the final design. “Hopefully the guy who owns this place doesn’t think that’s part of the final design, I don’t want t’be answerin’ questions ‘bout why I’d make such an ugly choice for his border.”

Packing everything that was his back into his vehicle, he took one last look at that gap and smiled at his smart thinking before he left, stopping at home to grab some other tools that he figured he might need before realizing that he’d still not been able to talk to the other person involved in the whole wall situation and, because of that, he didn’t know where it was he was going. That meant a call to Chrom to see what was going on, and calling Chrom was always a crapshoot of a decision because he could have been free, or he could have been in an important meeting that the call was distracting from. Thankfully it was the former situation, and he was happy to give the address to where the house they’d damaged was (and apologized that Frederick hadn’t ever called him to tell him what was going on, but in the “heat of everything” he’d forgotten to reply to that voicemail).

Now he was on his way, and in his mind Vaike was really hoping that this wasn’t going to be too much of an issue to handle. Speaking to Chrom right then had been relaxed, no sense of stress or worry in his words, but he wasn’t positive that it would stay that way once he got to the house and surveyed the damage for himself. The neighborhood that the house was in was a relatively new one, which meant that if something was wrong to the point that he couldn’t fix it then getting one of the builders involved was a possibility, but he hoped that it wouldn’t get to that point and that he would be able to handle all the work himself.

“Look at that, you even came with your belongings,” Chrom remarked after Vaike had parked outside the house and was walking up its long driveway, initially holding one of his hands out for a shake but retracting it when he saw that Vaike was carrying things with him. “Sorry that you weren’t quite told the extent of the damage beforehand, but hey, makes for a more exciting job, right?”

“Somethin’ like that, sure. Now where’s this wall so I can get a look at it and get t’work as fast as I can?” There was no time for idle chitchat when there was a job to get done, and so he was led into the house, the smell of freshly-cleaned carpets as well as busted drywall assaulting his face as he stepped inside. “Gods, ya really did bust somethin’ open good, didn’t ya? How’d ya manage it?”

“It wasn’t intentional, we were trying to get the bedframe around a corner and someone mis-stepped and knocked it and themselves into the wall behind them.” Clearing his throat, Chrom could be heard clearly saying that it had been _him_ who’d done it, before he shook his head and pointed down the hallway. “It’s right down this way, if you’d like to come look.”

In his mind, Vaike was trying to figure out the layout of the house he was now in, noticing that the entryway opened up into the hallway, which branched out in two different ways. “If ya don’t mind me askin’, can I get an explanation of what this middle area is?” He nodded his head towards the wall in the center of the hall, which formed the hall along with the exterior walls. “Does it lead downstairs? Are we just walkin’ ‘round somethin’ for the hell of it? What’s goin’ on here?”

“The floorplan says it’s just a decorative pillar, holding up the higher part of the roof, but if that’s the case then breaking it would be…problematic, correct?” As they were walking down the hall, having turned around one corner and still walking with the center “pillar” to one side and open doorways on the other, Chrom seemed to be processing the idea that he might have damaged the house more than he’d expected. “I hope it isn’t, I’d hate for them to have to move because of this incident.”

“Hold on, I’ve gotta see it for myself ‘fore I make any comments ‘bout that possibility.” One of the doorways they passed led into what looked like a living room, and another seemed to go to the kitchen, which made Vaike come to the conclusion that if they’d gone the other way, they’d have gotten to bedrooms. “But why were ya goin’ this way if you were carryin’ bed stuff? Wouldn’t it have made sense to go the other way?”

“You figured out the floorplan without looking at it? That’s impressive.” Chrom stopped their forward progress as he looked back at the man following him, laughing before letting his last chuckle turn into a drawn-out sigh. “We were going around the other way, but we put up a barrier on that side to keep Lucina from stumbling into the lower part of the broken wall while she’s over here. You know, safety first with children and all that. Don’t need her knocking loose any more parts of the wall.”

Stopping as well, Vaike turned around and looked at the two clearly open entryways to different rooms in the house and gestured towards them with his head. “So what you’re sayin’ is that you’re fine with her bein’ able t’get to the hole from this side, but not from the other? Ain’t she gonna be in one of those rooms?”

“Er, yes, but if she made a run for it to get back here this way she’d—oh, you know what, it’s better to explain it by seeing it yourself, just follow me.” This house was a lot bigger than expected, especially from looking at it on the outside, but the hallway only seemed as long as it did because of how much looking around at other things Vaike was doing. Once they got to the end and rounded the corner Chrom abruptly stopped and he almost knocked into him, nearly dropping all of what he was carrying. “Here, here’s how Lucina can’t get into the hole from this side.”

As he moved out of the way for Vaike to get a clear view of the scene, Chrom was chuckling to himself, waiting for the coming reaction that he was expecting. What he got instead was a flat _what_ followed by all of the tools currently being held hitting the floor, which was immediately followed by a strong punch to the arm. “Was he not expecting to see someone sitting here keeping watch?” Frederick asked, his voice completely neutral as he closed up the book he had been writing something in. “What a shame, sitting here all day has allowed for me to do some reorganization of several accounts.”

“Is this why ya didn’t call me back? ‘cause ya were sittin’ here, doin’ your taxes or somethin’?” Sounding more annoyed than amused at what he’d seen, Vaike ignored Frederick’s correct that he was reorganizing work accounts, not doing taxes, and stepped up to right in front of him, looking down at him as he sat on the floor. “Why’d ya let Chrom destroy part ‘a your house and make me come fix it, huh?”

“I didn’t ‘let’ him do anything, we were trying to get back to the bedroom that’s on this back wall and he misjudged how close the headboard was to the wall when we tried rounding the corner. I was following with the other end, what happened was no fault of my own.” Bringing himself to his feet so that he could properly greet his friend with a side-hug and a pat on the back, which did wonders for deescalating the situation, Frederick kicked his book aside and stepped out of the way, showing the large hole in the wall that was just high enough up off the ground that the story seemed to validate its creation. “We’re hoping this won’t be too much to fix, but you’re the expert in that field.”

“Wouldn’t call myself an expert by any means, but I’ll see what I can do ‘bout it.” Vaike stepped up to the wall and did what any self-respecting man expected to fix it would do: he stuck his entire arm through it and checked to see what he could feel on the other side. It was entirely hollow, no insulation or anything knocked out of place, and when he retracted his arm he twisted his face in thought. “Huh, for bein’ a center pillar t’the house, you’d think it’d be better constructed than it is. There’s nothin’ but drywall right here.”

“That’s what we noticed immediately after breaking it, that it seemed to be rather flimsy. That shouldn’t be too hard to replace, right?” Chrom’s question was optimistic, and was asked as Frederick was reaching down grabbing his book to keep it from where any dust and dirt would get to it. Vaike nodded in response, which elicited a relieved sigh. “Okay, thank the gods that it won’t be all that difficult.”

Walking back to his tools to grab something to cut away the broken wall with, Vaike thought about what all he’d need to do in order to fix the problem and froze once he had a small saw in hand. “Uh, well, it won’t be that difficult if I’m just gonna be fixin’ the wall itself exactly as it was. But if ya wanted it properly insulated and stuff like that, we’d haveta get in there, see what else it’s lackin’ and go through a whole process t’fix it.”

“I’m more than fine with it being fixed to how it was before we broke it,” Frederick said, not allowing Chrom a chance to speak. “This is a nightmare as it is and we don’t need to prolong it at the moment, at such an inopportune time for everyone involved. Perhaps in the future it’s something we could look into, but right now just a quick replacement will do.”

“I think that’s something that Lissa should get a say in before the final decision is made, but I suppose that if you’re so insistent on it being repaired that’s how it should be done.” Chrom laughed once more, knocking on the door that was directly across from the hole in the wall. “She’s in here, right?”

“Gettin' her involved might actually be a helpful thing right now, if she’s down for workin’ on this with us.” It wasn’t a typical thing for Vaike to consider asking someone else to help him with a piece of work, but given the odd nature of the wall he was having to replace he wanted an alternate perspective on things if he could get one. “I could use someone goin’ through the wall t’see what’s on the other side of it, and she’s small enough that if I cut it open just a tad she’d be able t’fit in with no problems.”

“Would you ask Maribelle to do the same if she were here?” Frederick’s question was valid, but immediately after he’d asked it and Vaike had looked at him with raised brows he realized his mistake in thinking. “No, on second thought, asking her wouldn’t make any sense, unlike asking Lissa.”

“Maribelle would take one look at this and tell me that if a speck ‘a drywall dust got on her she’d have my head, at least Lissa’s cool with gettin' a little dirty if it’s needed.” He paused, as Chrom knocked on the door behind them again, and once the knocking was done he continued to speak. “Besides, if I wanted it t’be one ‘a us goin’ through the wall, I’d haveta cut more of it than if it’s Lissa goin’ through it, and why should I make more work for myself later if I can do less of it now?”

Frederick nodded in understanding, while Chrom seemed more focused on getting his sister out of the bedroom he wasn’t even sure she was in. “That’s a solid idea, the less work you have to do on this the better, most definitely. I hate it that you’re having to spend your night doing this but…the worry that it was weight-bearing and necessary for the integrity of the structure required us to call you in sooner rather than later.”

“Well guess that means it’s a good thing it ain’t a weight-bearing wall then, doesn’t it? If it was, pretty sure it’d already be collapsin’ in on itself, which’d be a huge mess that no one would want t’be dealin’ with, but it’s standin’ pretty well on its own.” The purpose for the wall was not making any sense to Vaike, minus being a decorative part of the center pillar of the house, but he was sure that once he could get someone to look at it from the other side he’d have more answers.

“Okay, okay, why are you knocking? I’m in here trying to take a nap!” Lissa’s voice rang out, her having thrown her bedroom door open at Chrom’s knocking. She earned the attention of everyone present, and when she realized it wasn’t just her brother and fiancé there she began to turn red. “Oh my gods, I didn’t know that we had someone over to help fix the wall! I’ve got to look so rude right now, don’t I? I’m so sorry, Vaike!”

“What’re ya sorry ‘bout, it ain’t like I’m a stranger or somethin’. No need t’apologize for bein’ yourself.” Amused at how flustered she was to see him there, he had wanted to ask her if she’d be okay with helping him out but she’d slammed the door on Chrom before he got the chance, leaving the three men there alone once more. “And there she goes, so much for askin’ her, huh?”

Chrom shook his head. “She’ll come out soon enough, I’m certain of it. But until then, can’t you at least start cutting away at the wall, to get it ready for what you need her for? Maybe if she comes out and sees that there’s a her-sized hole in the wall she’ll immediately jump to wanting to help you see what’s on the other side.”

“Y’know what, that’s a great idea. Thanks for that, Chrom.” That was when the cutting started, hacking away at drywall that wanted to crumble apart due to the impact it had taken the day before. It wasn’t difficult work by any means, and completing it was going to help out some friends, but while he was smoothing the edges and making the hole look nicer Vaike was still asking himself what the purpose of this wall was, and why it didn’t feel right to be messing with it.

The look of concentration and thinking on his face was noticeable to those who were standing near him, Frederick going so far as to consider asking him what was going on but stopping when Chrom gave him a single shake of the head to deter him from it. They weren’t going to be distractions from the work at hand, not when there was the chance of so many other things becoming distracting. Like, for instance, a knock at the front door around the other side of that pillar that broke them all from what they were doing. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it!” a chipper female voice from somewhere else in the house called out, followed by heavy footsteps that were accompanied by smaller, faster ones. “It’s either dinner or Maribelle, or maybe both at once!”

“She ordered dinner?” Chrom asked, at the same time that Vaike’s eyes lit up at the idea of Maribelle finally being there; it wasn’t either of them that made a run for the door at that call, though, as the bedroom door flew open once more and Lissa came charging out, passing by them all on her way towards the front door. “Figures that either of those options would get her to join the living, but really? Ordering dinner, without consulting everyone? What’s gotten into Sumia this time?”

“Chrom, do you really have to ask that?” Frederick replied, watching as Chrom hesitated for a second before going towards the front door himself. “And you don’t have to go investigate to see what she’s doing, she made the two options very clear!” He sighed, looking at Vaike who had gone back to cutting at the wall, albeit at a much slower pace. “I can’t bring myself to understand why he’s acting as he is, he knows why she’s behaving this way and yet he refuses to believe it.”

“I’m not exactly the kind ‘a guy ya can talk to ‘bout that sorta thing, sorry.” His response was given without really paying attention to what he was saying, but Vaike knew that he was being honest with his words. After that whole “trying” thing that he and Maribelle had gone through (that had fallen off just as quickly as it had started, and he was fine with that), he hadn’t really put much thought into anything involving children. In fact, he hadn’t even put that much thought into it back before all that had happened, the only child he’d ever felt compelled to care about back then being Lucina, and the only children he cared about now being Lucina and her unborn sibling. “It ain’t even like I know Sumia that well anyway, so you’re doubly screwed on that one.”

Frederick pursed his lips together for a moment before throwing a hand into the air, letting it grip his forehead when it fell back down. “I’m going to check on all of them and make sure Chrom isn’t getting roped into something that would keep him away from us, or see if it is actually food that’s been delivered so we can all take a break to eat. Don’t hurt yourself while I’m not supervising, got it?”

“As if I’d hurt myself at all, the Vaike’s got a great record of only hurtin’ himself when doin’ work at his own house.” He’d said it to try and get Frederick to laugh before he left, but all it did was make him scurry away quicker, leaving him alone to keep trimming the wall and hear the snippets of conversation happening on the other side of the building. “Damn it, now I’m gonna look like a jerk if I stay over here workin’, but I’ll get chewed out for stoppin’ without permission if I go t’join everyone. What’s a guy to do?”

It was a mental coin flip Vaike needed to do in order to make his decision, and after choosing to stop working to go see what was happening up at the door he set his saw down against the wall before walking off. Just the image of walking up to everyone still holding the saw made for some potentially dangerous situations and he wasn’t about to add injury to this already bad situation. As he rounded the corner he could see a whole gathering of people at the end of the hall, the two men standing taller above everyone, Chrom holding his similarly blue-haired daughter high enough that she could be seen as well, and it was Lucina who happened to be looking backwards to see him approaching. “Why’s he not right here?” she asked, her voice high-pitched with curiosity as she pointed a finger in his direction. “Is he in trouble?”

“Hm? Oh, he’s not in trouble, he was just working on fixing your father’s mistake on the wall,” Chrom answered, turning so that he could set Lucina down on the ground. “You can go greet him if you’d like, I know how much you used to love roughhousing with him.”

Lucina scrunched up her face at the suggestion, eyeing Vaike as if she’d never seen him before in her life. “I don’t want to, thank you,” she said, backing up back into her dad’s legs to try and get him to pick her back up. “He looks dirty.”

“He’s been fixing the wall, of course he’s dirty.” Chrom’s reply came without giving into what his daughter wanted, his attention moving away from what she was doing and back to the rest of the group. After the girl realized she wasn’t getting her way she shrugged and weaved her way into the middle of everything, leaving Vaike to come up to them on his own and hope that she was the only one who would take issue with how he looked. He hadn’t even realized that he’d gotten dirty with what little work he’d been doing, but then the reminder that he’d been working in a garden before he’d shown up hit him; of course that’s why he was “dirty” and the little girl didn’t want the attention.

“So how long is it looking like we’re going to be here?” Maribelle loudly asked, being the center of the group that was there at the door. “I had a rough case to deal with today and I would prefer if I was able to get home to relax at some point before midnight.” She was met with slightly awkward laughter, which didn’t answer her question, but the one person she didn’t see laughing at her was her own husband, as he joined everyone. “Ah yes, just the person I want to see. Vaike, sweetie, how long is this going to take?”

He hadn’t expected her to notice him right away, and seeing everyone turn to look at him and wait for his response made him lose all the words he’d been planning on using to answer her with. “Y’see, I don’t actually have any idea how long it’ll take, it depends on what it looks like from the other side,” he replied, which was greeted with a blank stare from Maribelle, as well as whispered questioning of what he meant from the other two ladies there. “Don’t worry, I know how t’figure that one out, if someone’s willin’ to help me out with it.”

“You aren’t considering putting Lucina in there, are you?” Asking with a hint of fear in her voice, Sumia immediately lost focus on what was being said when she saw the front door again. “Oh, if you’re going to, can you at least wait until after dinner arrives? I’m not going to possibly lose her for the night on an empty stomach.”

“I don’t wanna get in the wall,” Lucina said, sounding whiny as she did. “That’s scary.”

Chrom gave a small chuckle. “That’s not who he was planning on asking to help him, I would never allow for such a small child to get involved in this mess. I can’t believe you’d allow her to as long as she’d eaten beforehand, Sumia, that’s irresponsible.”

“He wouldn’t leave her on the other side of the wall. I didn’t even know there was space on the other side for someone to fit, and who else would fit but Lucina?” All three men didn’t answer the question, as they all knew who the suggested person was, but Sumia wasn’t impressed with their silence. “It’s not me, is it? I don’t think that will work…”

“If they’re thinking about endangering a pregnant woman by putting her through a wall I am going to hurt them,” Maribelle cut in, shaking her head slowly as she’d locked eyes with her husband. “And I know who I’ll start with first, thinking that’s acceptable and that they could ask you to—”

“Calm down, Maribelle, it ain’t Sumia we’re askin’!” His whole life had flashed before him as he saw the anger rising in Maribelle’s face, and Vaike rather preferred not thinking he was about to die at his wife’s hands. “And it’s not you either, so don’t go jumpin’ t’that conclusion. We’re thinkin’ of askin’ Lissa, if she’s fine with that.”

Now all of the attention had shifted to the actual person that they were considering having go onto the other side of the wall, and when she saw that all eyes were on her Lissa snorted in laughter. “Me? But why? It’s not like I’m the smallest person here or anything.”

“The only one smaller than you here is Lucina, and why she isn’t being asked has already been touched on.” Frederick placed a comforting hand on Lissa’s shoulder, and she tilted her head to rest on top of it. “It’s not going to be dangerous at all, and besides, wouldn’t it make the most sense if you were the one to investigate an oddity of our own house?”

“I guess I can see why I’d need to be the one to do this, but if we’re going to, can we please all eat first before we do? Last thing I want is to get trapped on the other side without having gotten to have dinner first.” Her words were echoing the one request Sumia had given for getting Lucina involved, and no one was sure if she was intentionally doing it or if she hadn’t been paying attention to anything that was said beforehand. Either way, it was a valid request to make and no one was going to deny her a meal before she helped out, especially as there was food on the way for everyone to enjoy.

The meal break came not long after she’d agreed to help out, the deliveryman at the door struggling under the weight of all the pizzas that had been ordered for everyone to share—but there wasn’t much “sharing” intended with the order. “I knew that everyone liked something different so I figured I could order a different thing for everyone,” Sumia explained, as the men of the group carried the food into the kitchen after her. “But then I realized I didn’t know what everyone would really like to eat, so I might have gone a bit overboard with what I got.”

Counting boxes in his head, Chrom groaned at the number he came up with. “Sumia, you didn’t actually order one pizza for _all of us_ , did you?” She couldn’t hide the fact that she had done exactly that, and it was amusing to watch her dance around it while Chrom attempted to get her to spit the truth out. After they’d laid out all the different boxes and broken out the paper plates (since the kitchen and dining room weren’t unpacked by any means), everyone was able to pick through what they wanted out of a wide selection of different toppings and combinations. There really was something there that appealed to everyone, and it was nice to have a meal where everyone got more or less exactly what they wanted. Add in the drink selection, which wasn’t quite as varied but still had many choices, and it was nearly a feast for the group gathered there.

But as they sat on chairs with their plates in their laps, the table one of many furniture items that hadn’t been moved into the house in the wake of the wall breaking, the reason for why they were all gathered there loomed over everyone’s heads. “Depending on what the other side of the wall looks like, it might be an easy fix,” Chrom told everyone mid-meal, repeating a version of what had been discussed before. “Vaike says it’s an odd wall for where it stands, which is why he’s so insistent on someone checking it out.”

“Hey now, don’t make it sound like it’s me bein’ stupid ‘bout this that’s gonna be puttin’ Lissa through the wall, it’s just that it ain’t weight-bearin’ and I don’t understand why that is. For bein’ a central pillar t’the house, it’s gotta mean somethin’ that it’s so unbuilt.” The meal was a nice break from the work, just like the earlier conversation had been, but Vaike really wanted to get back to what he’d been asked to do so he and Maribelle could go home. Looking at her sitting next to him, he could see the tiredness in her eyes, the way that her day at work really had hit her hard.

She seemed to be in desperate need for something to help her get through, and he knew that what she was looking for was waiting for them back at the house. “I don’t know why we’re having a pizza party without someone having provided alcohol to go with it,” she joked, sipping from her soda while everyone reacted to what she’d said. “I get it, this wasn’t planned, but I could use a nice glass of wine right now.”

“And drive home once the wall’s fixed? You’re crazy, Maribelle, and we don’t have anywhere for you to sleep over here yet.” Lissa was the only one who hadn’t forced a laugh or rolled their eyes at the attempt at being funny, reading the joke as a serious statement. “But once this is all taken care of, we could go out and have a wine date together some night, if that’s any consolation for not having anything now.”

Maribelle shrugged, not sure how she felt about the suggestion, but Frederick was the one who spoke instead. “I don’t think planning a ‘wine date’ is necessary right now, you have an awful lot on your plate over the next few months and losing a free night to drinking is not an acceptable way of passing that time.”

“Jeez, Frederick, you don’t have to remind me that I’m not supposed to have any free time, with all this moving and planning and all that on top of actually doing my job.” Sniffling, Lissa looked at him with her lower lip jutting out. “You’re becoming a real hard-ass right now, trying to get me to do everything exactly how you want me to.”

The hushed silence that fell over everyone as they processed what had just been said was only broken by Lucina asking what her aunt meant by part of what she’d said, a question that no one was going to answer. Frederick especially was at a loss for any words, his face lighting up with color as he felt the sting of what she’d called him. “I think someone’s gonna enjoy watchin’ her get put through the wall,” Vaike said under his breath, nudging Maribelle with his foot. “You’re gonna come watch too, yeah?”

She shook her head, replying to him in the same breathy, quiet tone. “No, I think I will spend the time talking to Sumia, catching up with her, all that sort of stuff. It isn’t every day I get to chat with someone who has a positive relationship with children.”

“I really shoulda seen that answer comin’, I think.” Shrugging it off, Vaike went back to eating his dinner, and after he and everyone else were finished up and the room was cleared of all trash the meal had produced, it was back to work for all of them. The group of four of them who were going to be involved in the repair process went back around to where the hole was, while the two adults and the child not involved stayed in the dining room to talk.

No one had any idea of what was going to happen once Lissa was lifted up and carefully put in through the hole in the wall, but after assuring her that if she got panicked or worried while over on the other side they would get her out she was fine with being set down on the ground in the darkness. “It’s definitely a solid floor over here,” she said, stomping her feet down to test her own words. “Cement, I think? But why’s there a floor in here?”

“It’d be part of the foundation, I assume,” Chrom replied, looking at Vaike to see if he had anything to add. “You think so too, correct?” He was met with silence, almost as if his words hadn’t been heard at all—and they hadn’t been, as the moment Lissa had mentioned that the floor was solid inside the pillar, Vaike’s mind was working to figure out what it meant. “Come on, answer me, you’re the one who knows about this kind of stuff.”

“I don’t know specifics about this kind ‘a house, especially since this is just screamin’ dead body or somethin’ like that t’me.” He’d spoken without thinking about the power of his words, and no sooner than he’d mentioned what was on his mind did things around him start to go wrong.

It began with Lissa starting to panic, the idea of her being in a dark, enclosed space with something dead terrifying her to no end. “Get me out of here, right now!” she screamed, grabbing onto the lower cut edge of the wall and threatening to pull herself up over it, Chrom and Frederick both scrambling to get her from breaking the wall further while still working to get her back on their side. “I-I-I can’t do this, I can’t see something dead that might be rotting or something!”

“What’s going on over here, why’s there so much noise?” That was Maribelle, slightly out of breath from jumping out of her conversation to check on what she knew was her best friend being absolutely terrified. The sight of Lissa on the other side of the wall, looking scared and having two sets of hands trying to grab her through the small hole she’d entered through, was enough to get her to start getting panicky, grabbing Vaike’s shoulders and shaking them. “Why did you _put_ her over there? She can’t get out!”

“She’ll get out here soon enough, right now we still don’t have any answers ‘bout what’s on that side and it’d be great if she’d—” His explanation was cut short when Maribelle decided that him making excuses wasn’t good enough for her. She stepped back while he was talking, arms shaking, and without any warning she charged forward, initially knocking him into the wall and, thanks to swinging one arm out at the same time, knocking Chrom in as well. The sound of two men being smashed into flimsy, already-compromised drywall flooded their ears, the dust it kicked up enveloping them all, and before she’d comprehended that she’d completely ruined the whole plan as they’d developed it, she recognized that she’d managed to break the wall (and free her friend) with a single motion.

“Mari, are you aware of what you just did?” Frederick asked, coughing once he’d spoken due to the dust still in the air. “Your husband was trying to fix that without this happening, but you seem to have prioritized getting Lissa out higher than that.”

Blinking to let the scene she’d caused sink in, Maribelle replied, “I…guess I did, sorry about that. It’s just that hearing her get so worried made me want to do something and I didn’t think you were moving fast enough.”

“What matters is that no one’s hurt, thankfully.” Completely covered in bits of wall from having been pushed through it, and holding on tightly to his sister as they both stood in the area that had previously been blocked off, Chrom looked to Maribelle with relief in his eyes. “You definitely made getting her out easier, but at the same time you made fixing this much harder, so I don’t know how I feel right now.”

Lissa’s eyes were wandering now that the area she’d been trapped in was fully exposed, and she was staring at what was mere inches behind where she’d been standing the whole time. “Would you look at that, there are stairs here. Maybe this was meant to be a way to get to a basement they never made?” She paused after she’d voiced her idea, her head turning further to follow the stairs down into the pitch-black abyss. “Wait, hold on, I am pretty sure it wasn’t just Chrom you pushed through the wall, Maribelle…”

That same thought had been crossing Maribelle’s mind slowly before it had been spelled out for her, and without thinking (or caring much about any further consequences) she walked forward, her heart beating rapidly. “If I had known there were stairs on the other side, I might have thought through my rescue plan a bit better, but there’s no way to take it back.” Her toes were at the edge of the upper landing, trying to see down into the darkness but failing miserably. “Er, are you alive down there, Vaike? I promise you I didn’t intend to push you hard enough to cause you to fall.”

If he responded, she didn’t hear it over the sound of her own screaming when she felt something land on the top of her head, causing her to leap forward which resulted in her _also_ tumbling down the stairs. Or, at least, it wasn’t tumbling so much as it was landing hard on her rear and sliding down them, each step she hit more painful than the last. She stopped right before what she hoped was the bottom, when her legs hit something warm and living; another scream escaped her as her mind jumped to finding some kind of animal down in the unexpected basement. Thankfully what she hit was who she’d been looking for, although he did not seem pleased to have her basically on top of him in the dark. “Maribelle, please, stop screamin’ like that! What’re ya doin’ down here anyway?”

“Did you not hear me come down the stairs or whatever those were?” she threw out in return, trying to pick herself up but finding that trying to kick her legs off of him to stand up was incredibly painful. “Ouch, I think sliding like I did might’ve broken something…”

“Oh that’s just great, exactly what we need right now.” It wasn’t typical for Vaike to sound annoyed by something, but there was definitely annoyance in his voice. He seemed to be sitting either on a stair or at the bottom, looking up to where the light was visible at the top. “We’re down in some blocked-off basement we shouldn’t have gotten into, and while fixin’ this place up and makin’ it usable would be a neat project, it ain’t gonna be happenin’ anytime soon ‘cause ya decided to throw both ‘a us down the stairs!”

“It wasn’t intentional, I heard Lissa screaming and felt I needed to do something.” At the sound of her name Lissa, at the top of the stairs, reacted by calling down to ask them both if they were okay. It took a moment to decide how to answer, time spent considering how much pain she was in and how to classify it, but Maribelle ended up replying that they were alive but probably injured in some way—after all, one of them had just slid down a flight of cement stairs and the other had tumbled down them in some manner.

There was a scrambling at the top of the stairs to try and find flashlights to be used to see where the stairs led to, and once people were armed with light they entered the large hole now in the wall, shining their lights down on the two at the bottom. “There’s no blood down there, right?” Chrom asked, carefully taking the first couple of steps to bring the light closer. “Should we send someone to call for an ambulance or something?”

“Won’t be necessary, pretty sure nothin’ that’s broke requires that kind of attention.” Pushing Maribelle’s legs off of him (and hearing her gasp out in pain from the movement she wasn’t ready for), Vaike brought himself to his feet and leaned up against the wall the stairs ran along. “Between the two ‘a us we’ll be able t’get where we need t’go, no worries.”

“That doesn’t sound very convincing.” Turning the light to look around the whole lower part of the house once he’d gone further down the stairs, Chrom seemed to have distracted himself from the issue at hand, but when he didn’t see anyone walking closer to him he went back to shining the light down at the two at the bottom of the stairs. “Especially not that you’re staying down there. Wouldn’t you want to get out of this place as quickly as you can? It’s kind of…eerie, now that I see it for myself. Why did they build this and seal it off?”

“Probably so that if the people who owned the house wanted it, they could fix it up themselves, which would explain why the wall wasn’t as strong as it coulda been. Perfect place t’put the door t’head downstairs once it’s ready.” As he leaned against the wall, he was looking down at Maribelle, but wasn’t offering her any way to help get her to her feet; she found this incredibly rude and wanted to call him out on it but something about his stance, about how he was holding himself, made her think otherwise.

Quietly, nearly through tears as she carefully lifted herself off the stairs and gave her incredibly sore back and legs the relief of no longer being seated, she looked at him and asked, “Something really did happen to you on that fall, didn’t it?”

“I’d rather not talk ‘bout that while we’re still down here. C’mon, let’s go upstairs and figure out what t’do from here, since Chrom’s got the light for us so we don’t fall again.” They walked up the stairs, passing by Chrom but not saying a word to him as he stayed down there while they crossed back through the wall and into the actual house. Once they were up at the top, that was when Frederick went to go investigate what was down the stairs for himself, leaving the two of them with Lissa, who jumped to hug Maribelle the first chance she got. Their reunion was cut short by Vaike, who held out the arm he’d been keeping tight to him ever since he’d stood. “Lissa, take a look at this, will ya? Landed rather hard on it when I fell, want t’make sure it ain’t broken too badly.”

The reality of what he’d said made both women look at him, then at his arm. “I, uh, don’t think it’s too bad if the bone’s not sticking out, but you should go get it looked at if you really think it’s broken. I might be a medical professional but I don’t know everything from one glance,” Lissa admitted, trying to size up what she was looking at in comparison to his other arm. “How do you know for-sure it’s broken, anyway?”  
“Do ya really think I’ve never broken a bone before? Knew somethin’ snapped in it the moment I landed on it, just don’t know how bad it is. Oh well, guess I’ll go get it looked at after work tomorrow or somethin’.” He was willing to shrug off the injury, which he was promptly convinced to not do, just in case it was worse than he thought.

That resulted in them spending most of the night over at the hospital, just waiting to get seen by someone who would know a thing or two about bones, and when they finally got home that night they had just a couple hours to sleep before work in the morning. Not only that, but while sitting around the hospital Maribelle had realized that she was in far more pain than she probably should have been, which led to her getting herself checked out to make sure she hadn’t broken anything as well. For both of them falling down a flight of cement stairs that weren’t supposed to be used, one bruised tailbone and two small fractures in one arm were pretty tame injuries, but they were disastrous for getting anything done anytime soon—especially since they both still had to work in the morning.

For her, sitting in her office was going to be a nightmare until she was able to heal up, but that was nothing compared to what he had to face trying to do his handyman work with one arm in a splint (as there had been no one available to cast it at such an early hour). The cherry on top was that there was no way he could ask someone to finish his garden-making job for him, when he’d set it up in such a way for himself to remember what he was doing at a simple glance.

Why did it have to have been _him_ to fall down the stairs when he hadn’t been the only one pushed through the wall?


	6. The Black Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: excessive drinking

A lot of things that happened in life could be chalked up to “people are stupid”, but Maribelle tried her best to forget about everything that involved endangered children, or parents who were clueless enough to lose custody of their children (oftentimes at her hands). She liked to focus on the positives whenever possible, whether it was the adoption cases she worked that had happy endings, or her free time spent with friends and family, or even just walking down the street on a nice summer’s day and seeing all the flowers and wildlife that the neighborhood had to offer. Looking on the bright side was a skill that she’d had to get good at using to survive her job, but she never knew how much she’d begun to rely on doing it until she felt forced into trying something else.

It was late that summer when all of the planning and stressing over a wedding that wasn’t her own, and wasn’t going to top her own, became totally worth it, but up until the morning of the ceremony the fear that something was going to go wrong was prevalent in her mind, although not in the minds of anyone else involved. There was worrying about the weather being nasty, about the rental of the outdoor pavilion at the park falling through, about accidents harming the guests on their way to the ceremony, all things that Maribelle jumped to considering that no one else had bothered with.

“You’re only worrying because your luck’s so bad that if you were in my shoes, all of that would happen and then some,” Lissa teased, which made Maribelle sputter out rebuttals that relied less on the concept of luck and more on other, real things. Despite having every reason to believe that luck was real and that hers was the worst, she still insisted that it was just a construct people justified everything with and that it wasn’t real at all. Even still, she knew deep down that Lissa was right about it, that if their roles had been switched right then there would have been a freak storm to ruin the ceremony right from the start.

But it didn’t happen and everything went exactly as planned, no issues or concerns to speak of, and with the wedding being completely successful it meant that it was time for Maribelle to get a bit of payback on her best friend for something she’d done to her immediately after her own wedding. “So, should we start placing bets now on how long after your honeymoon you announce that you’re with child?” she asked Lissa, as they were standing off to the side together after the reception had ended and there was nearly no one left at the park. “I’ll give it exactly a month, just for some wiggle room.”

“Oh gods, you’re really going to get on me about that now, aren’t you? I mean, I deserve it after all the pestering I gave you, but seriously? I have two nieces I can watch if I want time with a baby, I don’t need to force myself into that quite yet.” Laughing, because she recognized that the tables had been turned on her, Lissa ran a hand through her hair as it fell onto her shoulder. “Whatever happens is gonna happen though, and I’m not going to fight for or against it. You know, maybe you could do the same, and we could raise kids at the same time!”

“Whoa there, I’m not—you know that we’re not going to be trying to have a child at any point anytime soon, why would you suggest that now? Maybe when it comes time for your second one we’ll start considering it.” Now it was Maribelle laughing while Lissa shushed herself and stared in shock at her friend, unsure of how to take that suggestion. “But I’m proud of you, letting things happen naturally, it makes life more exciting to know that every day might be the one.”

“Every day, minus these next couple of weeks because I am not letting you be right on this.”

True to her word, by the time it was a month post-wedding Lissa still hadn’t said a thing to anyone, and she was adamant in her position that nothing had happened at all. Rather than force the issue and make the situation more messy than it needed to be, Maribelle took a hands-off approach to the whole thing, accepting that when something needed to be said, she would be told, and asking about it would just bring up more memories of when the situation had been her being pestered; those memories were just like thinking about bad work cases, they were to be avoided at all costs unless absolutely necessary.

And so things went on, life continued without much in the way of conversation between the two due to the idea that if they talked, that was what they’d talk about and Maribelle wasn’t quite sure she wanted to spend all her time talking about something she’d already tried to do for herself. Even though there had been a renaissance in their friendship in the months leading up to the wedding, it seemed that she and Lissa were starting to drift apart once more, and although there was a clear blame for it, she knew that if Lissa were to give a reason she’d have exactly one name to throw into the mix: Panne. It was _true_ , Maribelle had gone back to being buddy-buddy with Panne after playing the role of matron of honor was no longer necessary, but it wasn’t because she wanted to avoid Lissa. Now that she was newly married she was focusing on things that stood on ground Maribelle had tread on years before, they were currently at two different points in their lives and needed to handle things as such.

Besides, it was a lot easier to keep a friendship with Panne afloat when they saw each other frequently, running into each other whenever Maribelle was required to check on clients who were seeking care. If she wanted to see Lissa, she’d have to venture into the main part of the hospital, and after having spent enough time in there for personal reasons she typically tried to stay away as much as possible. “You know, if you get caught talking with me by your other friend, she may have both our heads,” Panne reminded Maribelle one day when they were sitting in her office, taking a moment to catch up before finding specific rooms where children in need waited for them. “It is a fear I have every time you spend more time than necessary with me.”

“Lissa’s not the kind of person to actually start picking fights over me being close with someone else, we’ve known each other far too long for that to be a thing.” Maribelle’s immediate thoughts contrasted with what she’d just said, knowing that Lissa would start a huge argument over the situation if she wanted to. “I think it would work best if you and her got to know each other, though, she’s really not all that bad.”

“If she is cut from the same cloth her brother is, I think I can do without knowing her personally, as I already know him.” Her words were sincere, said in such a tone that Maribelle knew if she questioned it she would be put through the wringer for not accepting someone’s opinion. “However, if you enjoy her so much there must be some redeeming qualities to her, hm?”

“Y-yeah, there sure must be.” It was in that moment that Maribelle found herself struggling to understand how she’d justify being friends with someone who was as difficult to be around as Lissa was, someone who was constantly being annoying and overdramatic and a pain in everyone’s side. She hoped it wouldn’t come to having to give reasons, and that Panne would accept her opinion exactly as she had just done for her. “But no worries, I won’t force you two to get to know each other, she can deal with it that we’re friends.”

The phone in the office started ringing and rather than continue the conversation Panne chose to answer it, taking a few seconds to hear the request on the other end before slamming the phone on her desk and jumping to her feet. “We must leave, right now,” she said, sounding stern with her words. “Not an emergency on a hospital-wide scale, but there’s an altercation on one of the floors involving who you’re here for. We must put a stop to it before it escalates.”

That was one of the dangers of being a lawyer involved in cases about children, the threat of parents acting out, and Maribelle could do nothing but follow along in agreement with Panne’s direction. She couldn’t get personally involved if these were her clients acting out, but having the scene noted for use on the courtroom floor was always useful. It turned out to be a mostly verbal argument involving feuding parents over the care of their child, caught in the middle of their nasty custody battle while fighting an illness, but it came close enough to blows that Maribelle knew that she’d be able to give decisive evidence for which parent deserved to have primary custody afterwards.

These kinds of interruptions were common whenever the ladies were meeting in the office there at the hospital, but finding the time for both of them to be free and away from work was harder and harder with every passing month. It wasn’t that either of their personal lives had changed, but rather the conditions of their jobs; more often than not Maribelle’s “days off” ended up with her going into work to handle cases her coworkers didn’t want to deal with. This was enough of a strain on her marriage, as she was getting to spend only the latest of nights and earliest of mornings with Vaike on the regular, but it would have been a death knell for her friendships if it wasn’t for everyone either accepting that she wasn’t always free or having wild jobs of their own.

Still though, the itch was there to have another friendly get-together outside of work, like they’d been working on having before, but Maribelle didn’t want to bring up the suggestion and have things fall apart like the last one she had suggested herself had. Every time she and Panne were talking, and Panne was not wearing her official coat or she had her sleeves rolled up, she couldn’t help but look at the freckle-like marks that dotted her arm, and when she’d see them she’d remember her helplessness that night and how this woman had bared her soul in order to support her through that hell. There had to be time for them to make positive memories together, and it needed to be sooner rather than later.

A period of relief seemed to be on the horizon, forced-vacation time that Maribelle had no interest in using but had to unless she wanted to cause a headache for the people owning the law firm. While everyone else was intending on taking the holidays off, she agreed to get an earlier set of days off, if only because she had to do it. When she brought this up with Panne, it was clear an idea had formed immediately in her mind. “While I only wish you had gotten time off earlier than that, we could use a day of your time off to have a late birthday celebration for myself if you wouldn’t mind. Lon’qu and I try to celebrate our birthdays right in-between them, as they are about a month apart, but I could suggest that we do something for his _on_ his, then hold off on my own until you and your husband can join us for it.”

“You’re basically inviting me to your birthday party?” Maribelle asked, wanting to make sure she was understanding the suggestion properly. “That’s kind of a big deal, don’t you think? But it has been a long while since we last had the time to do something together, I would be down for it if you are.”

“Wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t serious about the idea. I do believe that if we all pitched in and brought a meal to our place for that evening, complete with dessert and light refreshments, together we would make my birthday a lovely time. As long as we aren’t referring to it as a ‘birthday party’, I despise the term.” Once again, the genuine tone to Panne’s voice made questioning it impossible, but in this instance Maribelle had no desire to ask her anything to make her reconsider what she’d said. The idea was lovely and was absolutely something they needed to do again, and why would she have wanted anything but to get to help her friend celebrate?

It wasn’t set in stone that day, or in the days following it, but there came a point where it was decided that they were going to go through with this plan, and from there the actual planning began. Roles were assigned, the two women decided which one of them would provide what, and for a moment at the start Maribelle was getting flashbacks to planning a wedding in terms of how much allocation there was for who needed to do what. But this wasn’t nearly as serious as a wedding, even if it would be much more fun, and it made her think for a second about how she would have had enjoyed Lissa’s wedding so much more if there had been less organization and more sitting around having a nice meal.

What was in the past needed to stay there, yet the nagging voice in Maribelle’s head kept telling her that something was going to go wrong with their plans, no matter how much effort they both put into it. The week leading up to it was spent finalizing the menu and coming up with what kind of treats she’d bring over to go alongside the meal that Panne was going to make, and when they’d decided on simple finger foods and a nice, homemade cake Maribelle figured she had the easy side of the cooking to handle. All she needed was to buckle down, chop some veggies and bake a cake that everyone would be envious of, and then she’d be set.

The whole time she was cooking, feeling pride in her preparations, something felt wrong about what she was doing but she couldn’t quite place a finger on it. This was being done alongside making her own dinner for that night, but it wasn’t until what she was intending to eat then was finished that she realized what was wrong was that she’d done all of that prep work without a single peep coming from her husband. While her work had been draining on her in terms of extra hours at the office, Vaike never had seemed to have the same problem when it came to late nights, and so him not being home was as far from typical as it could get.

That was assuming that he hadn’t gotten wrapped up in finishing some project for someone, and Maribelle at least tried to give him the benefit of the doubt when she could. She knew with absolute certainty that he wasn’t out cheating on her, and he was a grown man who could handle himself if he’d gotten lost or invited out somewhere, so she wasn’t going to play the role of his mother and try to sleuth out where he was. If he didn’t get back for dinner, he wasn’t going to get to eat what she’d cooked, easy as that.

It was a shame that, in her attempt to remind herself that she didn’t need to worry about him, she’d left the cake in the oven just a bit too long, burning it only slightly on one side yet still filling the house with the lingering smell of burnt cake. The damage didn’t seem to be too bad, and she didn’t want to make another cake completely from scratch, so she frosted it and made one side look much more appealing to eat than the other, hoping that everyone else would see it the same way she did and enjoy it regardless.

Even still, after the cake was finished and dinner had long since been eaten, there was still no sign of Vaike being home for the night, and Maribelle was beginning to grow suspicious of what he was possibly doing. There had been times where he’d mention to her that he would be out late and she would forget to remember that he’d said a word, but she was positive he hadn’t once mentioned anything about being gone for an extended period of time. Although they did have their understanding that they could do what they wanted without the other hounding them for details, she was starting to wonder if she should break that level of trust and call him anyway.

Or, since she had everything done for the night, she could just kick back and accept that she was having a night home alone, and not worry too much about where he was. He was rather horrible at keeping secrets from her anyway, so if he did happen to be out doing something he shouldn’t have been, she would have been made aware of it immediately after he got back, if he got back. But by the time she started to think about the possibility that he wasn’t ever returning, she had already decided to crack into a bottle of wine that she had been keeping for a nice night to herself, and once she’d had a glass there was no doing anything beyond the walls of the house.

One thing led to another and Maribelle ended up sleeping on the couch that night, having laid down there at some point to try and read a book and ultimately passing out with it on her face, a half-empty glass of wine sitting on the floor next to her. It was nearly noon when she woke up, the living room bright with the day’s sunshine as she sat up and tried to recall what had happened to put her in the position she was now in. When she knocked the glass of wine over everything came flooding back to her, as she scrambled to clean up the mess before the wine could cause too much of a stain.

It was when she entered the kitchen and saw her attempt at making a cake sitting on the counter still, alongside all of the food she’d made the night before, uncovered and primed to being spoiled, that she realized her whole night had been wasted because she’d decided to start drinking. “I…I have to fix this, I cannot take any of this to the dinner tonight, there’s too much of a health risk I’d be making,” she said to herself, before pushing those thoughts out of her mind so that she could go back to cleaning the other mess she’d made. Why she’d decided to drink on her own, she knew, but why she hadn’t made sure to have everything taken care of before hand she wasn’t positive. Now she had a bunch of things she needed to fix, and quickly, unless she wanted to make a fool of herself in front of a friend.

As it turned out, taking spoiled food to the dinner party would probably still have been overshadowed by the other thing that was going to be accompanying her. It was after she’d tossed everything (including the cake, because it felt rock-hard due to not being covered overnight) and was while she was formulating her plan of attack for restocking and recreating what she needed to take with her that she’d decided she should freshen herself up before going out to the store. When entering the bedroom to grab a change of clothes and use her nice shower in the master bathroom, she saw that there was definitely someone in the bed, and as she’d last known herself to be home alone that was reason for concern. The solution to that was to throw the first thing she could think of at whoever was in the bed, which ended up being a shoe that was sitting near the door.

The impact was enough to bring the person in the bed to sitting, and Maribelle gasped when she saw that it was her husband after all, despite him never having come home the night before. “C’mon, was that necessary?” he asked, voice slow and forced, almost as if he was miserable just opening his mouth to talk. “I need t’sleep, now.”

“Where were you last night? I was worried sick about you, you didn’t come home and I know you didn’t tell me where you were going, so do it right this minute before I—before I throw something else at you!” Already Maribelle was bending down to grab a second shoe, but she stopped when she saw a wildly-shaking arm get extended in her direction, wordlessly begging her to not throw anything. “That’s not explaining yourself, Vaike, you could have died and I wouldn’t have ever known where you were!”

“Me and some friends were out last night, celebratin’ a birthday. Last minute kind ‘a thing, wasn’t anythin’ you’d have been interested in.” Sounding even more miserable than he had been before, Vaike turned his arm so that he could gesture for Maribelle to join him in the bed, which she did after a moment’s hesitation. As she got closer to him, she could smell the overwhelming scents that reminded her of bar scenes, of places that she’d go to sit and watch people drink until they couldn’t drink anymore and blow smoke in each other’s faces. Her nose must have turned up at the scent, because he gave a rough chuckle at her. “Ya get it now, don’t ya?”

She nodded, bringing her hand to her face to at least mask the scent. “Yes, I sure do, and now I’m going to have to ask you to wash the sheets in the bed, I doubt I’ll be able to sleep in it as it currently is due to…how you decided to lay in it.”

“Trust me, I’ll wash it all once I get some sleep or somethin’. We ain’t plannin’ on doin’ anythin’ today, are we?” Her initial reaction was to say no, because she could tell he really needed to sleep, but she knew that she had to break it to him that they had plans for that night that were rather important. “You’re gonna say we are, I gotcha. I’ll just take a short nap then, thankfully we had a car t’sleep in last night outside the place but that ain’t much of a comfortable place when there’s three ‘a ya there and two of ‘em are cops.”

“You can sleep as long as it takes for me to get back from the store and get the food for tonight set up a second time, but after that you have some serious cleaning to do.” Backing away to try and rescue herself from the smells that were still assaulting her face, Maribelle nearly ran to the closet to pick out her clothes, then crossed the room as fast as she could to get into the bathroom. Her shower was long, as she took the time to fully come up with her plan of attack for the day, but she hadn’t expected to be joined in the bathroom at any point while she was in there; when she heard the door open she jumped and would have slipped had she not grabbed onto the wall for support the moment she hear the knob turn, and so when the shower curtain was pulled open on her she was less shocked but initially wondered if she was about to get killed until she saw Vaike’s face staring at her.

“Would ya mind if I jumped in there with ya, I think it’d do me more good t’take a shower right now than try to sleep, if we’re bein’ honest. Can’t sleep if I keep smellin’ like the bar we were at, y’know?” Maribelle didn’t want to let him in, she was already starting to smell what was lingering on his skin and clothes once more, but she wasn’t going to force him to wait for her to finish, and since he was already there it made no sense to tell him to go use the guest shower. Her silence was taken as a positive response and he had soon stripped down and climbed in with her, sitting on the floor of the tub with his eyes closed and head tilted forward, almost as if he’d fallen asleep in there immediately after entering.

She found herself looking down at him for a while, now lost in wondering how to handle how he was feeling, but she remembered that she had a lot of other things to take care of before they went to Panne’s house for dinner, and she couldn’t spend all afternoon in the shower with him. “Make sure you turn the water off when you get out, and don’t stay in too long, you need to get that bed cleaned before too much longer,” she told him as she stepped out of the shower, narrowly avoiding stepping on his dirty clothes as she exited.

The whole time she was drying off and getting dressed, she didn’t hear a word from him in there, although to keep from suspecting that he really had fallen asleep she could hear him shifting around. It was when she was just about to leave the bathroom, doing a last-minute check of her hair that she’d pinned back despite being wet, that she heard anything other than rustling of curtains and splashing of water—and what she heard made her whole body cringe in fear of what it meant. That fear only grew worse when she opened the door and found the bed to already be completely stripped of all its sheets, leaving a bare mattress and pillows in its place.

She hadn’t even left the bathroom yet, and already she was wondering if she needed to make the call to cancel the night’s plans. “I hear ya out there, just get t’doin’ whatever ya were gonna do, I’ll be fine here,” Vaike said, trying to sound forceful as he spoke, but when his last words were quickly followed by what she knew was him throwing up again.

“I don’t exactly believe you with that happening, but if you insist.” When she’d had the feeling that something would go wrong when the plans were made, Maribelle had anticipated an incident more along the lines of her mistake from the night before, burning cakes and leaving all the food out to become inedible. She hadn’t expected there to be more to go wrong than that, but there they were, now having to deal with one thing that was fixable and one that most likely wasn’t with anything but time. Calling Panne to cancel was something she was ready to do, but every time she told herself to go through with calling her, she hesitated because she didn’t want to seem like a flaky friend.

What was there that she could do, though? There was going to be enough food and place setting for four people, and there were only going to be three that would be in any state of being able to eat at this rate. Could she just go on her own, and explain to Panne and Lon’qu that something had happened to Vaike that rendered him unable to attend? But that would lead to her having to explain what had happened, and the moment that they learned that he’d picked different friends over them they would not be pleased with him in the slightest. So what then, was there a different course of action that could be taken? Maribelle knew that she could always invite someone else as her plus-one, but the choices of who that could be were slim at best, with Lissa being the top candidate but also being someone who hated the friendship she’d be witnessing.

“I need to just call her and tell her that we won’t be attending,” she decided, grabbing her phone as she sat in her car outside of the grocery store, looking at the front doors after debating if she should even go in or not. “We can reschedule for a different time, but today doesn’t work because he’s not feeling well and I’m not dragging him to their house to make a fool of us both.”

But as she stared at her phone screen, looking at Panne’s number as it was dialed and the call was started, she regretted making that choice. “Is something the matter?” Panne’s voice asked immediately after the call was answered. “Or is this a question about what to bring?”

That was the exact opening that Maribelle needed in order to rectify the issue of calling without fully being committed to cancelling the dinner. “Yeah, I might have messed up on my food preparations last night and need to quickly make something new,” she replied, not fully telling a lie about what happened but definitely lying about why she was calling. “Do you have any suggestions about what I should bring that I can properly make between now and when we should be at your place?”

“Not a one, I’m afraid, but do remember to avoid any potatoes in whatever it is you make, unless you expect to make two versions of something.” That was something they’d discussed back when the dinner was in its planning stage, Panne having a rather severe allergy to potatoes that made her violently sick just by tasting them. “If you cannot provide anything that’s fine, as long as you still bring dessert to share. Between myself and Lon’qu we have made quite a few interesting things for you and Vaike to enjoy with us.”

Hearing her husband’s name be mentioned made Maribelle tense up, but she wasn’t going to break it to Panne right then that he wasn’t exactly feeling the greatest. “That sound wonderful, I’ll try to think of something to make in what time I have left, but if all else fails I have a lovely cake to provide.”

It wasn’t until she hung up that she realized that there was nowhere near enough time to bake, cool, and frost a new cake before she was supposed to be there, and the one cake she’d made was not anything anyone needed to be eating. Glancing at the door to the grocery store once more, Maribelle sighed, knowing that what she needed to do in order to fix what she’d done wrong by getting a bit drunk on wine was shady at best, but if she didn’t do it then she risked sickening her friends with a stale cake.

* * *

Two hours later and Maribelle had done the best she could to recreate what she’d made the night before, although her second try at everything seemed to be a lot sadder than the first time around. This was partially because the store had been crowded and she hadn’t been able to get a lot of what she wanted because they were out of stock, and partially because while she was in the middle of her chopping and preparing she’d been joined in the kitchen by her half-dressed and still visibly unwell husband, who’d drawn himself a chair and tried to act like he was feeling much better than he was.

“I don’t get why ya keep lookin’ back at me, I’m fine,” he’d insisted almost every time Maribelle had turned from her cooking to check on him, earning a shake of the head and some reminder that he wasn’t. “Y’know what, I could prove it to ya if ya wanted me to, I really could. Tell me t’do somethin’ and I’ll do it, no problems.”

“The last thing I need right now is for me to take you up on that offer and ask you to do something, only for you to make everything worse by getting sick again. Just…go take a nap or get out of my hair, I don’t need you spreading your germs in what I’m making.” Her denials were met with him laughing, correcting her that there was nothing contagious about what was wrong with him—it was just that he’d drank way too much and then some, and was paying for it. “Yes, I am fully aware you are experiencing the worst hangover of your life today, and on the day of our dinner with Panne and her husband at that.”

“Don’t blame me, it wasn’t my idea t’keep gettin' drinks, I just went along with it. When someone else is payin’ for your night out ya don’t tell ‘em no for anythin’.” The more she heard about his night out, the more Maribelle realized that she was married to an absolute moron, but it was so perfectly Vaike to do what he’d done that she couldn’t criticize him for it. Besides, he’d made it home in one piece and hadn’t gotten into any trouble outside of drinking far more than he could handle, so there wasn’t much she could get upset with him about outside of things that were more under her control than his.

But it wasn’t in her character to let him get away with something without any kind of consequences of her doing, and it was while she was finishing up meal prep that she came to the conclusion of what she was going to do. “You don’t think you’re going to get out of having to come with me to Panne’s house just because you’re hungover, do you?”

“Uh, yeah, pretty sure I ain’t gonna be eatin’ whatever it is you’ve made, and it’d be rude if I went and didn’t eat what she made, so I was plannin’ on kinda kickin’ back here and hopin’ this passes soon enough.” He gave her a big smile, and while his attempt was cute and she thought his logic was sound, she wasn’t going to let him escape justice when she was already doing so much to salvage her night. “C’mon Maribelle, you’re gonna make me go? Even with me feelin’ like I am?”

“You’ve said it yourself many times, you’re fine, and if you’re fine you can come to dinner with me.” She didn’t want him to go and make her look bad, but she wasn’t going to let him get out of this easily; either way something was going to go wrong and she was trying to choose the way that made her look more sympathetic. Having to bring a sick husband to dinner just to keep up appearances, after he’d done so much to insist he wasn’t sick at all? That was _his_ fault if anything went wrong, not hers. “Anyway, you and Lon’qu can catch up and spend all night talking, it’ll be good for you to spend time with someone you know won’t ask you to go to the bar afterwards.”

Once again she looked at Vaike, this time to see his reaction to what she’d said, and he was staring at her with a blank expression, almost as if he didn’t get what she meant. This became obvious when he said, “Okay, usually I getcha when ya say somethin’ like that, but what d’ya mean he won’t ask me t’the bar? I’ve heard stories ‘bout him wantin’ t’go out when there’s sports or somethin’ he wants t’watch.”

“He doesn’t drink, Vaike, neither he nor Panne do. I’m just saying that you won’t have to worry about him trying to rope you into a round two of last night, so you don’t have to think about getting any sicker than this.” While she was speaking she could see him starting to look more uncomfortable than he had been, and it was immediately after her mentioning him being sick that he got to his feet and left the room, leaving her behind shaking her head at what she’d just seen. “Of course you’re still throwing up, it’s just our luck that…”

Her voice trailed off as she realized she’d said that l-word that kept coming to her mind whenever something bad happened to either one of them. While she still firmly believed that luck wasn’t an actual thing beyond a person’s own choices, and this was no exception to that, she still ended up buying into the idea just because it was so easy to blame everything on an abstract concept like that. Shaking her head to show that she was not finishing the thought, she went back to chopping the last of the vegetables she’d cleaned up for a nice starter to snack on at the dinner.

None of her slices were as pretty as the ones she’d done the night before, but that was fine because it wasn’t like she was providing for some fancy soiree, she was just making food for her and friends to enjoy together. As for the cake issue, she looked over at the clearly store-bought cake that she’d moved into her own baking pan to make it at least look like she’d done her absolute best with it and gave it a halfhearted smile. Even if everything else was falling apart, at least they’d be able to enjoy the slow burn of it all with the taste of delicious bakery-made cake.

At the end of the two hours of preparation time she had, it was time to pack everything up and get it over to where they were going, which would have been a lot easier had she been able to rely on someone else helping her out. But she knew that she couldn’t trust Vaike to hold anything while they rode over to Panne’s house, just in case he decided he was going to get sick again on the way; after the second attempt at making things she didn’t want to lose all progress again because of him. That led to her having all the food carefully placed in the backseat of her car, him in the passenger’s seat after quite a bit of arguing about if he really had to go with or not, and her responsible for driving them there.

Getting there took much longer than it had any business taking, and that was entirely due to how many times she had to pull over out of lane so that she could stop for her husband’s sake. By the time they were outside the place that Panne and Lon’qu called home, they were twenty minutes late, Maribelle was certain she’d missed several calls from the person expecting her arrival, and Vaike really wanted to be anywhere but there, just because he was _not_ feeling as good as he’d pretended to be.

When she did fish her phone from her purse, she was correct in the fact that she had missed calls, but not a single one of them was from Panne—instead, they were all from Lissa, almost as if she knew that Maribelle was spending time with her other close friend that night. “Of all the times to try getting me to talk, you had to pick tonight?” she asked under her breath, ignoring that the calls had been made without a single voicemail left for explanation. “I’ll get to you when I get to you, I suppose, because right now I have other things to take care of. Let’s get this food inside where it belongs before we end up too much later, shall we?”

Her question was asked while tucking her phone away and looking straight towards Vaike, who didn’t seem to be listening to a word she said anyway. This led to her having to carry as much as she could without destroying anything to the front door, while he lagged completely behind and stayed sitting in the car. When the front door opened and Panne was standing there, amused at something or other, she offered to help Maribelle with what she was carrying and ended up taking the cake out of her arms. “Thank you for being so willing to supply these things for us, it makes the meal feel more like a group effort than one person providing for everyone,” she said, seemingly not noticing that the cake was clearly not homemade like had been promised. “You’ll see what I’ve done once we’re inside.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be better than what I’ve brought.” Maribelle shifted how she was holding what was in her arms, hoping that she wasn’t about to drop it right there. “It has been a day, let me tell you.”

“If you are going to tell me, let’s get into it once these things have been set down, I would hate for either of us to drop something because we got distracted in conversation.” There was a pause, as Panne let Maribelle inside, only to look around and not see anyone there with her. “Is your husband with you tonight? Lon’qu had been looking forward to talking to him about a couple of things.”

That was the question Maribelle had been dreading since the second or third time she’d had to stop on the drive over. “He’ll be in with us shortly, I’m sure. He hasn’t been feeling the best today and—”

“I am aware of why that is,” Panne interrupted, shuffling her feet before heading into the house, Maribelle gasping before following her. “A pair of officers were speaking of their exploits last night at length with Lon’qu earlier and happened to mention him by name. According to their story, it’s a miracle he isn’t dead at this point.”

“—I’m sorry, what?” Usually Maribelle hated when she was interrupted, and had there not been so much of a revelation there at the end of the statement she would have chided Panne for doing something like that to her. This was different, though, and she was thankful that it had happened but also bothered by what it contained. “No one informed me that he should be dead, no one even told me that he was going to be out with friends last night until he was home this afternoon. But it’s just gossip fodder there at the jail, huh?”

Entering the conversation by chiming in from where he sat on the floor, some kind of puzzle in front of him that he was working on, Lon’qu corrected, “It wasn’t ‘gossip fodder’, it was two officers informing me of why they were both unwell enough to not feel comfortable being on patrol, therefore being stuck doing busywork for me. They just happened to bring up their third man by name and talk about how he’d drank them both under the table and then some, a disgusting habit that should have killed him.”

“Why are you talking at me like he’s an alcoholic? He went out with friends and got a bunch of drinks bought for him, it’s whoever was paying’s fault that he drank too much.” Setting the containers of food down on the kitchen table, right next to everything Panne had set up, Maribelle looked over at Lon’qu as he stood and stretched, walking right towards her once he was situated. The anger in his expression from her talking back to him was almost tangible, and she was starting to fear for her life, having just argued with someone so good at his jail job that he was known all over the area for his manner of dealing with problematic people.

She was sputtering, trying to spit out words to explain herself, and he silenced her with a single hand motion. “Enough of that, it seems that I heard more of the story from them than you have from him and that’s a tragedy. He was buying himself drinks, they each set up a tab to start the night. All of what he drank was on his own dime.”

“Lon’qu, is it appropriate to be sharing someone’s actions with their wife for them? If you gave him time I am certain he would come clean about what he did.” Panne could see that Maribelle was conflicted about what she’d just heard, her hands starting to curl into fists from the anger she was now feeling. “With one revelation you may have just jeopardized our meal, I hope you understand.”

“Whatever, if the meal’s ruined then it’s on him for not being honest.” Lon’qu gave Maribelle a once-over and shrugged, not fazed by her angered stance but recognizing that he should do something to calm her slightly. “Now that his dirty laundry has been aired for everyone to know, we can decide how to handle it as a group.”

Voice cracking as she was trying her hardest not to cry in anger, Maribelle replied, “He’s out in my car, I brought him with me because I…because he never told me how bad it was and I thought he would get over it. Drank his friends under the table, I can’t believe that! That’s not something a responsible adult does!”

“Out in the car, you say? I’ll go check on him, his untimely drinking has thrown a wrench in what I had intended for him to do for me tonight so I have nothing better to do.” Heading towards the front door, Lon’qu only looked back once, to see Panne giving Maribelle a comforting shoulder clasp but saying nothing to her as she stood there on the verge of tears. “Perhaps their explanation was a bit over-the-top, I highly doubt a man could live most of a day after drinking to that much excess,” he said, before opening the front door and exiting the house, leaving the women there to themselves.

“That would be Lon’qu for you, always the mood-killer. I’m positive that there’ll be nothing wrong after today, if Vaike handles his hangovers just like some others I know. It is an inconvenience in terms of timing but what matters is that he’s alive, correct?” The shoulder clasp was turning into a rather awkward hug, but in that moment Maribelle didn’t mind that she was being pushed into her friend at a weird angle, she just appreciated the contact. “Now let’s get things set up for once they come in, or at least for when Lon’qu returns.”

Moving past what had been said was difficult, but after a couple more moments of being hugged and a few sniffles to clear her mind, Maribelle was ready to start plating everything she’d brought with her that wasn’t the cake. When she opened the first container, that should have been filled with freshly-cut vegetables, she found it to be mostly correct, but the smell of something a lot less clean was present in it. Blinking as she tried placing what the scent was, she felt herself almost throw up when she realized that she’d somehow managed to put the new food in a container she’d used for something the night before, without having washed out the remnants of what had spoiled. Panne too noticed that there was something amiss but she didn’t call attention to it, merely placing a couple serving trays on the table for Maribelle’s use.

She had to pick around anything that looked like it even remotely touched the sides and bottom of the container, but she managed to salvage what she could of what she’d brought with her, and thankfully that was the only container that seemed to have that issue. “Why are you only putting half of your vegetable platter out?” Panne asked after seeing what was still sitting in the container. “I’m certain that I could make a meal out of that alone, are you saving it for in case we need to replenish what you’ve already put out?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, that’s exactly it!” Laughing to cover the fact that she wasn’t going to tell the truth about why she was keeping the rest of the food in its original container, Maribelle sealed it back up and stacked all of the other containers on top of it to make sure that no one got into it without making a lot of noise before they made a huge mistake. “Besides, if it’s just going to be two or three of us eating, we don’t need all of everything that we’ve made for tonight, don’t you think?”

“There’s always room for leftovers, they make for good work lunches, but I see your point.” Her eyes flickering to how suspiciously Maribelle had stacked everything, Panne pushed past any questions she might have had about it and instead looked at the relatively small buffet they’d created for themselves. “We shall dine like queens tonight, a lovely way to celebrate my birthday several weeks late. And with one of my closest friends, no less.”

Maribelle smiled, enjoying being addressed in such a manner. “I’m happy to be part of the festivities, even if it ends up being just me here with you. Makes it that much more meaningful, our time spent together. Why—”

She was cut off by the front door flying open, the unmistakable sound of her phone ringing in her purse filling the air, the source of the sound coming in the hand of the person who’d opened the door. “Whoever is calling you, they have been calling and refuse to stop, you need to do something about them,” Lon’qu said, swinging the purse back and forth almost as if he was going to throw it across the house to get it to its owner. “Vaike insisted on answering it himself but I told him he would not want to get involved in your affairs, especially if he doesn’t want you in his, and that got him to stop.”

There wasn’t any reason for Maribelle not to go across the floor as fast as she could to get her purse out of Lon’qu’s hands, but she chose not to even check her phone to see who was calling. “It’s probably Lissa still, I don’t know what she wants from me but I know if I try talking to her now she’ll get upset that I’m here and not somewhere with her.”

“Does she get territorial about us being together if she finds out it’s happening while it’s still going on?” Watching as Maribelle came back to the tableside, tossing her purse into a chair to get it out of her own hands, while the sound of the front door closing came in time with the end of the ringtone’s duration, Panne started to fidget her hands, becoming uncomfortable about something. “If it is the case, I would prefer you not tell her that you’re here with me, I would rather not meet my untimely end because of her being jealous.”

“What are you talking about? Lissa might get jealous that I spend time with people that aren’t her, but she wouldn’t ever dare try to kill someone over it.” Just mentioning that made Maribelle feel strange, unsure of how that leap of logic had been made but not liking it one bit. “Why are you insisting that one of my longtime best friends would kill you because you’re also my best friend?”

Panne pulled one of the chairs out from the table and gestured for Maribelle to sit in it, taking her own seat once she had done so. “It isn’t that I think _she_ would kill me, I have simply known far too many people to die at the hands of someone jealous of them being with someone else. To lose your family that way does things to your mind.”

“To lose…your family?” Maribelle repeated, a sinking feeling coming to her as the words passed her lips and she saw Panne’s wistful expression. “Panne, you’ve had a tragic life, haven’t you?”

The expression only grew to become more melancholic, Panne not saying anything but rather bringing her hand to rest on the inside of her arm, covering the tattooed-on dots that meant so much to her. “It happened when I was young, a small child raised by a family that loved her more than anything else. A relative decided to get involved with the wrong people, who grew jealous of them spending time with the family as a whole, and it resulted in a gunfight that left everyone gravely injured or dead, minus the children who had hidden themselves in case things turned dark. Then we were separated by the foster system, losing contact with each other over the years. None of them still live, none of the siblings or cousins I once had, all taking their own lives or having their lives taken from them.”

“That’s why you despise the foster system, because you survived it yourself.” Maribelle’s voice was soft, as she let the power of Panne’s story hit her deep in her soul. This was a woman who’d faced all sorts of horrible situations and made it through them somehow, someone who had a tragic tale to attach to anything she did. “And that’s why you’re so invested in helping children, because you care for them and want to see them live happy lives, but you, well, can’t have your own.”

“We’ve been friends for how long now? Besides, I’ve bared my heart about child loss before when you needed the comfort, and now I am giving you a look into my past without you needing to have your own heartbreak to connect to it.” They stared at each other in silence for a while, unsure of where to go next without making things feel forced, but when Maribelle’s phone started ringing again, Panne waved a hand towards it. “You answer that call, I will step outside and check on the men.”

Nodding as the plan started to make sense to her, Maribelle waited until Panne was standing up to follow her lead, even though they went in two different directions once they were to their feet. Whereas Panne was going to the door, she was stepping around the table to find her purse half-spilled on a chair, the phone one of the things still remaining inside of it. Just as she’d figured, it was Lissa calling her once more, a notification of the call being the thirty-eighth call from her number that day prominent on the screen. She pressed to answer it and initially put it on speakerphone, but the shrill shriek that came from the other side was enough to get Panne, still inside the house, to turn to look for the source of the noise. That meant muting the speaker long enough to get her to leave, before unmuting it and allowing for Lissa’s voice to ring out.

“Isn’t that exciting?” she asked, her actual statement being missed due to the speaker being muted for the entirety of it. “Come on Maribelle, you’ve got to give me credit for this, it’s kind of impressive really.”

“I’m sorry, whatever it is you’re telling me I didn’t hear it, could you repeat what you said?” Her request was met with a loud groan, which she expected given who she was talking to. “I said I’m sorry, I was dealing with something and couldn’t hear you when you said whatever it is you’re so desperately wanting to tell me.”

“Okay fine, I’ll say it again, but you’ve got to promise me that you’ll be excited when you hear it, deal?”

Excitement was the emotion furthest from Maribelle’s mind right at the moment, but she figured she could humor Lissa after so many tries to get through to her. “Sure thing, I’ll be more excited than you about whatever it is. So…new position at work? Did Chrom tell you that you’re being promoted to on the figurehead board with him? What’s the deal?”

“I guess you could kinda call it a promotion,” Lissa laughed, her words getting progressively louder. “It’s one you were begging me for since, like, this summer though.”

“I was begging you for a promotion?” Maribelle blinked in confusion, her mind making jumps she wasn’t sure were right but her heart telling her that she needed to stay on the track she was on. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re talking about, I’ve only been asking you to—oh gods Lissa, are you moving over to pediatrics? Are you going to be working under Panne now?”

The laughing had subsided, although when Lissa spoke again she was still louder than she had been before. “No, I didn’t say it was an actual promotion, and besides, I don’t want to work with the sick kids, even if it means getting to see you more. Even though it doesn’t matter, I’m probably not going to be working there much longer anyway.”

“Why wouldn’t you be? You went through all that schooling to get to where you are, doesn’t that matter to you?” Maribelle was growing more confused by the second, all the worst-case scenarios coming to her mind. “Lissa, dearest, please tell me you’re not dying, I couldn’t stand to lose one of my best friends, and to find out by her playing it off as a fun thing!”

“Maribelle, jeez! Lighten up real quick, will you?” In the background, someone was telling Lissa something, a garbled mess of words that Maribelle couldn’t understand a single one of, even if whatever it was made Lissa laugh again to hear it. “Nothing bad is happening, not even close to it! You’re going about this all wrong! What I said at the start of the call was that I totally proved you wrong by a few months, that’s all!”

“I still don’t know what you’re getting at,” Maribelle admitted, before her eyes went wide, thinking back to the conversation they’d had after the wedding that summer: _should we start placing bets now on how long after your honeymoon you announce that you’re with child?_ She remembered Lissa’s insistence on there being no need for such a thing, despite her guess that it would be a month or so until the announcement, but if she was thinking along the right lines, she really had been proven wrong by a few months. “Oh, I think I might understand now.”

“I knew I needed to tell you as soon as I wanted anyone else to know, it’s been really hard keeping it secret from you!” Lissa’s voice was nearly a squeal, her excitement about her news something that would be contagious if Maribelle wasn’t in such a bad mood at the moment. “Yeah, I know how you feel about kids and all that, but I just thought, maybe you’d be super thrilled to know about your best friend having a baby! So, um, are you thrilled?”

It took a moment for Maribelle to will herself to answer, but she swallowed down any reservations she had about the situation and gave a positive response. “Yes, of course I’m thrilled about this! You’ll make for an excellent mother when the time comes, I’m so happy for you, I really am!”

“We’ll have to see each other real soon so we can talk more about this! And next time, when I call you a bunch you better answer, I was not going to give up on you until you got to hear this from me!” Giving a loving farewell with a giggle, Lissa hung up, leaving Maribelle staring at her phone in absolute disbelief at what had just happened. That was her best friend, someone that she’d known since they were both young, calling her to announce that she was with child, and she was able to do it without a hint of fear or worry that something was going to go wrong.

As if a faucet had turned on inside her, Maribelle was soon consumed by tears, crying in the house where she was still the only person. If all fared well, the only other soul who would see her so distraught would be Panne, who would most likely understand the heartache she had suddenly fallen into without any explanation needed. Because of this, she was not shy about letting her tears fall, knowing that the person who’d see her next wouldn’t judge her for being so upset; however, when the door opened with her back turned to it and she didn’t bother checking to see who it was, it left her vulnerable for a surprise when a dark-haired man was the one who walked up to her, eyebrows raised at her current state.

“Did you start crying over your husband not-actually-dying?” Lon’qu asked, voice flat and uncaring as he stared at Maribelle, watching as she stiffened up and frantically started wiping her eyes and face. “He’s fine, we discussed what he did and what stories people are now telling about him, and then we talked about what I had wanted him to do tonight. There’s no reason for any concern about him.”

“That’s not…I’m not…that’s good that he’s fine, but I’m not crying over him.” While Lon’qu was someone who would definitely know a thing or two about a woman feeling the way she did, thanks to his proximity to Panne, Maribelle had no interest in telling him what had just happened to her. “If he’s so good though, why were you outside for so long?”

“We were about to come inside, but Panne came out to tell us to give you some space as you answered that phone of yours. I’m only in here because he was complaining about needing something to drink and I was not going to treat him as an animal and force him to drink from the hose.” Already Lon’qu was stepping towards the kitchen, Maribelle still trying to make herself look presentable, but it was while he was in there that she moved from where she’d ended up sitting and started to make her way out. “Where do you think you’re going? It better be to tell them all to come inside.”

She froze, not expecting to be heard but then she remembered this man worked in the jail, he must have been experienced with listening for people trying to sneak away. “I am going to get them, yes,” she replied, lying through her teeth but knowing that she had to do exactly that now. “We’ll all be right in, and then we can eat.”

“Good, I assisted Panne with cooking today and I must say that it’s nice to know that there’s at least one other person present tonight that will eat what I made, not just what she did.” It was an odd thing to mention, but Maribelle let it roll off her shoulders as she knew Lon’qu wasn’t exactly the most pleasant person to be speaking with.

When she poked her head out the front door after opening it, she saw Panne leaning against the front of the house and Vaike half-laying down on the sidewalk, his arms supporting his upper body as he took in some sunshine. “You aren’t Lon’qu coming back with water,” Panne remarked, a concerned expression on her face as she took note of Maribelle’s reddened eyes and tear-covered cheeks. “That call must have been something rough to hear, I am so sorry that it took place while we’re supposed to be having a friendly meal. Will you be able to stay with us tonight, or do you need to leave?”

“It wasn’t a bad call, don’t worry, it was just something I wasn’t exactly emotionally ready to hear.” Biting her lip to refrain from saying more, Maribelle watched as Panne pushed herself off the siding and came to the door, bustling past her without anything to say. “I heard that you should be fine to come inside or whatever, you drunk idiot. Care to join us in here, or are you going to keep doing whatever it is you’re doing?”

“Don’t talk t’me like that, Maribelle, I didn’t do anythin’ wrong.” While there was a whole list of things she could rebuke him with, she chose to take the higher road and go back inside without waiting for him to give a yes or no answer to what she’d asked. Whatever he chose to do after that, it was entirely on him and she knew he was aware of it.

Already the couple of the house were sitting at the table, chairs rearranged to accommodate two people on each side of the table, place settings set out and drinks at every chair. “I might have gotten a bit carried away with setting up so we could get right to the meal,” Lon’qu explained, not making eye contact with Maribelle at all as she took the seat directly across from Panne, therefore sitting diagonally from him. “From the looks of it, your husband has chosen not to join us even after everything we talked about, which is typical of men like him, I suppose.”

“Now Lon’qu, there is no reason to continuously badmouth one of your few friends around here, even if he is a tad difficult to handle at times.” Panne scolded, shaking a finger at him before gesturing to everything that had been set out for them food-wise. “We can start eating right now if we’d like, and if he comes in at some point he is welcome to join us.”

Even with that offer out there, no one made a move to start eating. Maribelle’s mind was other places, somewhere that she hated it being on a day where already so much had gone wrong for her, and Lon’qu was eyeing the door, waiting for the man outside to finally come in, so Panne took it upon herself to grab a serving spoon and stir up some of what she’d made. After scooping some onto her own plate and taking a bite of it, she seemed like she was going to say something, but when she opened her mouth Lon’qu gave her the gesture to silence herself. “I can tell without even looking over at you that you grabbed the wrong thing to eat,” he said, pinching his fingers together to get her to close her mouth, but only after taking and swallowing a second bite, which made him visibly cringe. “Why did you do that a second time? You’re going to regret it.”

“I could have sworn that I placed the correct dish out on the table,” she told him, going for a third bite, “which was done without your assistance. If you switched what was out here for any reason, I am going to strangle you.”

“It wasn’t ever switched, your food was in the smaller bowl and mine was in the bigger one.” She dropped her fork at what he said, eyes falling onto what she’d provided for herself, and it wasn’t until she had grabbed the fork again and was poking at what was on her plate that Lon’qu let out a harsh chuckle. “That was a joke, Panne, I made sure that what was in reach of you was what you could eat.”

To retaliate against the mini heart attack he’d just given her, she punched him in the leg, which made him laugh again, until she’d punched him a second time. As Maribelle watched this, she wished that she could have such a playful and fun interaction with her husband, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found and she wasn’t going to even want to play like that if he even came inside. The news she’d been told was something happy, yet there she was, feeling sad to know it, and there was not a single person that she could talk to about those emotions because of the scene that was unfolding before her. This was twice now that she’d ended up needing Panne’s emotional support when they were having a dinner together (although the other time had been completely by accident), and she couldn’t expect to get it.

“What’s goin’ on in here?” a voice unmistakably belonging to Vaike asked, and everyone’s attention shot towards where it was coming from, him standing on shaky legs as he approached the table. “Are ya havin’ a slap fight or somethin’ without me? That’s not cool, ya should know that I love havin’ fights like that.”

“Are you stupid, walking in here like that without anyone knowing you were coming in? Lon’qu probably has a gun on him, he could have shot you without hesitation,” Maribelle snapped, as Vaike took the seat next to hers. “You just love risking your life sometimes, don’t you? What an idiot!”

“Thanks, love ya too.” Blowing a kiss in her direction, he smiled at the couple across the table, who’d straightened up and were no longer punching each other for whatever reason. “Say, I saw that y’still got that wall decoration up, when’re ya gonna tell me where ya got it so I can get one ‘a my own?”

“Wall decoration?” Panne repeated, looking to Lon’qu, who shook his head. “Apologies, but it seems we aren’t going to discuss that right now.”

Rather than accept that answer, Vaike also looked at Lon’qu and said, “I ain’t gonna push the issue any further if ya don’t want me to, but I really wanna know where ya got that so I can get one for my place. Me and Maribelle, we could use somethin’ like that in our main room.”

“Leave it right there, we’re not interested in where it came from, we go over this every time we come here for something and my stance on the matter hasn’t changed.” Maribelle could feel herself already getting frustrated with Vaike, and he’d just walked in, and that was a bad sign for anything that could possibly follow. “Let’s just eat and try to make the best of tonight however we can, it’s been a rollercoaster of a day already and we don’t need to have a fight to make things worse.”

He didn’t seem happy to be shut down like that, but Lon’qu seemed impressed with how she’d gotten him to back off so easily. “Thank you, I’ve grown tired of explaining that I don’t know where it came from to anyone who asks, it was a gift from my old boss when Panne and I got married. Something about ‘equality in position’ in the home, that’s what he said it was. If you wanted your own, I would have to contact him to see where he got it.”

“Yeah, and we don’t want to make you feel forced to ask someone where one of your old wedding gifts came from. That would just be awkward for everyone.” Laughing, Maribelle glanced at Vaike to see that he looked displeased with the answer, but as long as it meant she wasn’t going to have to deal with that issue anymore she was fine with him being a little unhappy, especially after everything he’d already put her through that day. “We’re going to try eating now, aren’t we, my love?”

“What’s the point, eatin’ will probably just end up goin’ horribly wrong, but if ya insist I should maybe I’ll give it a shot.” Now that he was there, there was nothing stopping everyone from making the night feel like it had been planned to feel, albeit with a few other disruptions in the name of him leaving the table whenever he started feeling unwell. Those were easy enough to overlook, and with everyone at least attempting to eat there was no time for more discussion or anything of the sort.

After they’d finished up with the starters and what had been made as a main course, they sat at the table, talking about life and how everything was going for all of them at the moment, catching up like friends did. Maribelle held her tongue for most of the conversation, not wanting to reveal what she’d been told in that phone call on accident, but her attempt to stay silent was noticed by everyone else and called out. Rather than spoil someone else’s secret, she shrugged off the accusations of hiding something and told them all that she was thinking about something that had happened at work, a case that had struck a deep nerve with her.

“The last time you had a case shake you so badly, it set you on the course of wanting a child for yourself to keep safe from the horrors you deal with daily,” Panne reminded her, standing up behind her seat but leaning against it to talk. “Tell me that isn’t occurring again.”

“It isn’t, don’t worry. Having a child of my own is furthest from my mind right now, you wouldn’t even believe how little I want that anymore.” It was true, she couldn’t say that she wanted a child even slightly most days, but now that she knew that Lissa was having one, she also couldn’t say that she wasn’t jealous that her friend was going to be getting something she’d previously tried for and lost.

Panne didn’t seem to be convinced that she was telling the truth, but at a table with two men who had no idea what had happened the last time that train of thought had been explored, she wasn’t going to press further, something for which Maribelle was thankful. “Very well, I can understand that your line of work is stressful and weighs on the mind if you dwell too much on it. If you need someone to listen to you vent about anything, do not hesitate to call on me at any time.”

“Are ya sayin’ that she needs t’vent at someone she’s not married to?” Vaike asked, almost sounding offended that Panne had made the offer. “’cause lemme tell ya, she’s allowed t’do as much ventin’ to me as she wants, I’ll listen t’her no matter what.”

Snapping his fingers to try and get Vaike’s attention before he could make a fool out of himself, Lon’qu found that he was being ignored and had to instead loudly bark out a command to be listened to. “You are a different sort of support than what Panne would be, please stop making everything about yourself. I fail to understand why you were invited out last night, given how insufferable you tend to get when you start speaking.”

“Hey now, let’s not use fighting words when talking to each other,” Maribelle cut in, speaking over Vaike’s rebuttal that he wasn’t insufferable at all. “I thank you for trying to explain what’s going on, but that was a rude way to do it, Lon’qu. As for you, Vaike, you barely pay attention to me when I’m telling you about work on a good day, why should I trust you to listen to me when it’s a bad one?”

If there was going to be a response to that, it was overridden by both men getting to their feet, almost as if they were about to start a fight there by the kitchen table; instead of arguing words as was expected, one of them headed for the other side of the room while the other quickly went outside, leaving it to be just the two women at the table once more. “I suppose that is a sign tonight’s festivities should start coming to a close,” Panne said, arching her back to stretch as she stood tall. “I’ll slice up the cake you provided and then after we’ve finished with it you and your husband can take your leave.”

“That sounds like the safest plan, even if it’s a bit heartbreaking to hear it.” This was not how she’d imagined the night would go at all, with fighting and someone being sick and a call in the middle of it that was still weighing on her mind. Maribelle couldn’t say much more about how she felt, not when Lon’qu was technically still in the room they were in, just on the other side of it, so she gave Panne a mournful glance and left it at that.

There’d be time to discuss what was so troublesome at a later time anyway, long after they dined on store-bought birthday cake that everyone knew wasn’t homemade but didn’t want to call attention to. Sometimes, the things most obvious in a situation needed no explanation, and that happened to become one of them.


	7. The Horseshoe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: heavy law presence, gun use  
> also already-tagged warnings are valid in this one

Typically, whenever Maribelle was at the hospital for work-related purposes, she was visiting clients in the pediatric wing, which usually meant that she was being escorted around by Panne and discussing various things from their lives in the meantime. The case she’d ended up on this time, however, had her in the main part of the hospital, to have an initial meeting with a client who most likely didn’t even know they had received legal representation in a court fight regarding children. Because of this, she’d intended on going over to the hospital alone and finding someone who’d help her out once she got there, but the moment she mentioned to a certain friend of hers that her job was requiring her to spend time not around the children, she ended up with an offer to be led around and not be a hindrance to someone’s daily tasks.

While she knew that she should have turned down the offer simply because of who it was and why they were available to help her out, Maribelle was once again trying to stay on Lissa’s good side and didn’t want to aggravate her by telling her she could handle things herself. After all, the part of the hospital she was going to was the area that Lissa typically worked in, and she’d know the floor nurses and the layout of the building just as well as anyone on shift would—the only issues, naturally, would come if any nurses on duty would find them walking around. And as luck would have it, that was exactly what happened as soon as they got off the elevator up to the floor the client was staying on.

“Excuse me, what are you doing here?” a kind voice asked from her spot at the nurse’s station, watching the two blonde women get off the elevator and stopping them in their tracks right outside its doors. Maribelle opened her mouth to explain why she was there, but the redheaded woman pointed to Lissa, wanting to hear it from them. “You better not be here because something’s wrong with you or anyone close to you.”

“Oh trust me, I’m only here because Maribelle here needs someone to show her around the place, she’s here on official business,” Lissa replied, wrapping an arm around Maribelle’s shoulders to show that they really were there together, the woman at the desk getting up to meet them where they stood. “What are you up to, Cordelia? It’s not every day that I get to see you anymore!”

Coming to stand right in front of them, Cordelia looked first at Maribelle, trying to get a read on her, before her focus fell entirely on Lissa. “I’m up to the same old, same old, I’m afraid,” she replied, smiling as she spoke. “Nothing really changes around here, usual work to be done, all the patients to care about, some weird happenings but nothing that we didn’t experience together while you were still here. About once a week someone still writes your name on a chart, as if you’re going to walk into a room and take care of a patient in your current state.”

“I totally could if you really needed me to, but I think you all could handle it better.” With one arm still wrapped around Maribelle (who had begun to narrow her eyes as she was trying to place where she knew Cordelia from, outside of seeing her at the hospital), Lissa brought her other hand to her face, cupping her cheek as she gave a big grin. “The moment someone called for a serious emergency you all would leave me in the dust at this point.”

“That’s very true, I can’t figure you to be too fast on your feet anymore.” Tilting her head to one side as she continued to look at Lissa, Cordelia’s eyes didn’t wander much beyond looking at the happy expression on her face. “It’s a delight to see you here for a positive reason, rather than something that could be negative. Next month, correct?”

Lissa nodded, and it was then that Maribelle turned to look at her to see what Cordelia was seeing, the large grin and the childlike expression her hand placement and wide eyes were creating. “Lissa, are you going to talk to her all day or are you going to help me to this room that I’m supposed to be going to?” she asked, hating to interrupt something but not wanting to spend more time in this particular area of the hospital than she needed to. “If you want to talk, I’ll find my way myself.”

“What room is it?” Cordelia managed to speak before Lissa could, stepping closer before motioning for the two to move out of the way of the elevator doors in case someone else wanted to come onto the floor. Once they were somewhere not in the way of traffic, standing right next to the door leading behind the nurses’ station counter, she clasped her hands together as she looked at the two visitors. “I can be of use to direct you where it is to go, so that Meli isn’t—”

“Hold on, _that’s_ where I know you from, isn’t it?” Something about the endearing name that she’d just used in reference to Lissa was the last key needed for Maribelle to remember where she’d seen Cordelia before. “You had classes with me in college, back when I was doing my pre-law stuff, that’s why you’re so familiar to me!”

“—er, yes, I suppose so, but what does that have to do with Meli not tiring herself out by walking you all over the floor to get where you need to go?” Explaining herself wasn’t going to make her desire to get out of the hospital quickly be realized, so Maribelle shrugged and apologize for her interruption, something Cordelia accepted. “Anyway, _Mari_ , it just so happens that your office gave us a bit of warning before your arrival today, so I was expecting to lead you down to the man’s room myself anyway, but then you brought Meli into this and I…don’t know what to do now.”

“I’ll hang around here and see everyone else who’s here, you can lead Maribelle to the guy’s room if you really want me to not do it.” By this point, Lissa had stopped being wrapped around Maribelle, and the arm that she had been doing that with was now resting on top of her very obviously swollen stomach. “I mean, I understand why you don’t want me doing it, but you’re actually working and I don’t want you to have to do extra work when I can do it for you.”

“It’s fine, the guy she’s here to visit is actually one of the patients under my care, I could always use this as an excuse to check in on him.” Cordelia didn’t seem to be too bothered by the idea of having to do a little extra for her job, which Maribelle was thankful for, even if it meant having to leave Lissa standing there in hopes that some other floor nurse had a free moment there soon. As they parted, Cordelia took a firm lead, acting almost cold compared to how friendly she’d been being there when all three of them were together, but once they were headed down to a different end of the floor she seemed to lighten up again. “How funny is it, that you recognized me based on me calling her Meli. What am I supposed to do, call her by her full name?”

“Well, we typically call her Lissa, but I guess that your way works too. I just remembered you based on how you say that, compared to how you used to say my name when we’d work together in class.” Those were old memories Maribelle was calling back on, but if they were accurate that was what mattered in the end. “So what was with that, insisting that you take me to this guy instead of her? She’s not broken, she’s just pregnant, she can still do a whole bunch of things if she needs to.”

Cordelia put a finger to her lips in thought, although the impression it gave was her telling Maribelle to be quiet. “I’m fully aware that she’s just as capable right now as she’s always been, if only a lot slower at getting around, but me saying this man’s room is under my care was not a lie. I could check on him for the hour and make sure he’s fine, then leave him to your questioning or whatever it is that you’re here to do. Is it normal for a lawyer to visit someone while they’re under professional care?”

“It’s kind of a time-sensitive case, if we’re being honest. They want to make sure that it gets to court and possibly to trial as fast as possible, just because of the amount of people involved that would be impacted in case of a ruling against the parents.” Maribelle didn’t know the specifics of the case until that morning, so the tiny details were something she wasn’t positive on without looking at the case files again, but she had enough of the story straight in her mind to know how she wanted to represent the man she needed to speak with. “I would love to tell you more, but legal obligations tell me I cannot.”

“That’s fine, I’ve heard the story of the accident enough from him that I think I can piece together what you’re here for just from that.” Stopping in front of a door towards the back area of the floor, Cordelia gave a gentle knock before pushing the door open. “Mister Henry? I’ve come to take your vitals, and I’ve brought a guest with you that needs to speak with you about what happened.”

As they walked into the private room, Maribelle made sure to hang back and keep her distance, checking her phone to make sure that the information she’d been given about the case was there just in case she needed to refer to it, while Cordelia made quick work of what she had gone in the room to do. Once the actual nurse work was done, she made her exit, leaving Maribelle in the room alone with the white-haired man who looked rather peaceful in the hospital bed, despite having a neck brace on. “Are you going to introduce yourself, or should I just guess that you’re with the cops or something?” the man asked, stifling a laugh once he’d finished speaking. “Would make sense, since I guess there’s a criminal investigation happening.”

“I’m not with the cops, in fact, I’m on your side of the whole situation,” Maribelle replied, as she grabbed a chair and positioned it so that when she was sitting, she was facing the man and he could look at her with relative ease. “Have you been informed about what is going on in regards to the aftermath of the accident? Were you provided with the knowledge that you have a lawyer, that being me?”

“Someone might’ve told me that at some point, maybe. It’s been a ride these past couple days, let me tell you.” Even though his eyes were closed, and had been the whole time, he offered out a hand towards Maribelle, leaning forward in the bed so that she could reach him without stretching herself too far. “I’m Henry, but I bet you knew that coming into this.”

She nodded, taking his hand for a delicate handshake as she introduced herself to him before going back to looking at her phone and the file she had opened on it. “Indeed I did know that, when I was given this case earlier today one of the first things I was told was your name. However, I was not given much about what exactly had happened, just that there was an incident involving a severely-injured child that prompted removal of all children from your care. Will you elaborate on what happened?”

Henry’s fingers curled tightly as he retracted his hand, clearly hesitant to give an answer to the question. It wasn’t until she repeated the fact that she was on his side of the situation that he loosened up, laying back down in the bed before taking in a deep breath. “It all started that morning, well I guess it’d be more ‘afternoon’ than ‘morning’ but I was just waking up so it felt like morning to me. House was empty, figured the lady had taken the kids out for the day, which is great! Lets this graveyard shift worker get his sleep, you know? But I got woken up by what sounded like claws against a door, and we don’t have any pets at the moment so I was rather confused about what was going on.”

“Kids out for the day, strange noise in the house, I can understand why that would wake you up,” Maribelle said, checking what he’d said so far against the retelling of the story that her case had, something she wasn’t going to let him know about in case he decided he wasn’t going to speak further. “Continue with your story, please.”

“Okay so, went to go check the source of the noise, and I found a wild bird in the house. I’m cool with birds, love ‘em, but again, we don’t have pets, and this thing was tracking blood everywhere so it was clearly hurt and needed to be rehabbed, but I wasn’t going to waste my time trying to save it if it was going to die anyway, so I decided I’d take it over to the emergency vet and have it checked out.” He laughed, even if it sounded almost sad and forced. “If I’d known that doing that would cause all this, I wouldn’t have done it and just tried saving the bird myself.”

“There was a bird found at the scene of the accident, bloodied but alive, so that matches with what I was told before arriving here.” Maribelle looked from her phone over to Henry, who had twisted his mouth to one side as he thought about what came next in the chain of events, which was obviously weighing on him. “But I don’t think the bird’s survival matters as much as the survival of your daughter, correct?”

“I didn’t know she was there,” he replied, his voice having gone cold for a moment, but when he resumed his retelling he sounded as upbeat as he had before. “I got a container and trapped the bird in it, and after I got dressed I went out to the car and started leaving. But I wasn’t aware that the kids were just outside the house, and the oldest, she saw the garage opening and went to see what was happening—and I _didn’t know_ she was there, and I couldn’t see her because she’s so small, and I hit her. I didn’t mean to! But I did it!”

He was getting worked up, and because he was attached to machines Maribelle knew that him getting worked up would result in a nurse coming to check on him. Her eyes flickered towards the board on the wall that had the information for the nurses written on it, and when she saw the only name on there was a neatly-written “Cordy” she felt herself let out a sigh of relief. At least Cordelia would understand why he was getting so worked up, and wouldn’t shame her for making it happen. “Don’t worry, Henry, I know that you didn’t mean to hit your daughter with the car, now tell me what happened next. The very good father thing you did.”

“I tried bringing her here, she was screaming and the other kids were checking to see what had happened, so I told my wife to keep them all in the house and that I’d take care of things, which I tried to do. I got her in the car, and she was awake and responsive and didn’t seem too hurt, but I knew if I didn’t bring her to the emergency room something bad would happen.” He cracked open an eye at the very moment Maribelle went back to looking at him, and in the cold voice he’d used earlier he told her, “I knew that a bird in the house was an omen for death and I didn’t want it to be for her.”

Maribelle’s blood felt like it froze in her veins as she heard him, her mouth going dry and rendering her unable to reply no matter how hard she tried. “So the bird was in the box in the passenger’s seat, and my daughter was in the backseat, and we were on our way here, which I don’t know why I didn’t think to get rid of the bird at that point but you know what? It was a bad time, I wasn’t thinking straight, I should’ve known better than to keep a bird in the car. And that was when it got out of the box and started flying and bleeding as it flew around, and my daughter unbuckled herself and tried catching the bird, and in the middle of all that I lost control of the car and flipped it, up over the curb like it was found.”

“Your daughter unbuckled herself to catch the bird, which the bird being loose was what rendered you distracted and caused the accident. It was not you being a negligent parent that led to this, it was you being a caring soul towards animals.” Saying those words when her mouth felt so dry was hard, but Maribelle wanted Henry to know how she was perceiving the situation. “Your daughter suffered major injuries in the accident, you suffered minor ones, the bird survived and so will you both, I see no reason for the authorities to take your children out of your care when this was nothing but a tragic chain of events.”

“I mean, what have they been saying about us in the news? That we’re bad parents? That we shouldn’t be raising children? That we deserve to lose our kids?” Maribelle couldn’t answer Henry’s question, as she hadn’t been watching anything that had even mentioned the case, her first taste of the details being when she’d gotten to work that morning and found out she was assigned to it. But when he laughed, she knew that he wasn’t looking for an actual answer. “Listen, I get that it looks highly irresponsible for me to have hit my daughter with the car and then to wreck it with her in it later, but I didn’t mean any harm to her. I was trying to help a hurt bird.”

“You don’t have to keep stating your intentions, I get it. And I will do whatever I can to help you and your wife get the justice you deserve out of this.” When she had first read the case file, she had been surprised to see that the parents involved had multiple children, and that this was the first time they’d ever been caught in a legal mess because of anything relating to them. However, that didn’t mean that either of them didn’t have other stains on their records, as she’d found out while reading through everything provided for her.

But this man seemed so loving and so caring, there was no way he’d ever have attempted to murder someone, was there? “You’re looking at me like you’re suspicious of something, what is it?” he asked, even though it seemed like he could barely see anything at all with how heavy-lidded his eyes were. “You say that you think I’m innocent but then you’re looking at me like you think I’m not.”

“Trust me, that’s not what I’m thinking right now. I know in my heart that you were doing the right thing in this situation, but I also recognize that we have one hell of a legal battle to fight if we’re going to get you your custody rights back after this.” Her somber voice was done to show him how serious she was, but when he started cackling at her words she was taken by surprise. “Excuse me, but why are you laughing about that, Henry? Don’t you want to be able to make your family whole again?”

“I do, I really do! It’s just hilarious that you think a little bit of a criminal record is going to impact how hard it is to get my kids back. That charge is from when I was a teenager, I didn’t kill anyone then and I only attacked the guy out of self-defense, I thought he was going to hurt my girlfriend and I didn’t want to see her get killed.” As he was explaining himself he was trying so hard not to laugh, finding the subject matter he was talking about funny for some reason that Maribelle didn’t comprehend. “Everything I did wrong, I did to protect or save someone I care about. I’m a good guy underneath everything, I promise.”

There were many things about this situation that she was going to have to research before she could agree with him on that point, but as his lawyer in this case she had to hope that he was telling her the truth. “I do believe you about that, and I’m sure we’ll be able to prove to the judge that you are a loving father even if you don’t have a clean record. I’m going to keep in touch with you over the next few days, while I’m putting your defense together, and hopefully when the court date arrives we will be prepared to get your kids back.”

“You’re awfully focused on your job, why is that? What is it about helping children and their parents that you like so much?” His eyes opening again, if only slightly, Henry was staring straight at Maribelle, and she felt like he was trying to see into her soul. “Are you a mother yourself, is that it? Do you care so much about your own—”

“I’m not a mother, don’t speak to me as if I am.” Immediately after snapping at him he gave a single, forced laugh and she felt horrible for speaking like she had. “I mean, I don’t have any children of my own, I’ve just always wanted to give a voice to those too young to have their own. Your case is odd in that I’m representing you and your wife, not your children, but I’m representing you _for_ them so it’s kind of the same thing.”

Henry didn’t reply to her, merely closing his eyes and rolling over just enough in the bed to show that he wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation. That was fine, as Maribelle felt she had enough to work with to make progress on the defense already, so she stood up, put the chair back where she’d grabbed it from, and went to the door. But before she could open it and leave, she heard him clear his throat, and she turned to see if he had anything left to say. “I think you’re a funny woman, Maribelle, and it sucks that this is how we’ve had to meet one another. You’ll make a better mother than my Nowi is, if you give yourself the chance to do it.”

“I…I don’t know how to take that,” she replied, turning back towards the door and exiting the room as fast as she could, to keep him from saying anything else. Cordelia was standing on the other side, hands clasped against her chest, and when she saw Maribelle’s horrified expression she quickly asked what was wrong. “Nothing, it’s just that he’s really weird. Said some things not relevant to the case that rubbed me the wrong way. I can’t wait until I have to deal with his wife, if she’s even half as strange as him I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“A word of warning, she’s rather young-looking, but her appearance is very deceptive. She came in here not long after he was admitted, and came back earlier today not long after visiting hours started.” Dropping her hands now that she wasn’t expectantly waiting for something bad to happen upon the room’s door opening, Cordelia motioned back down the hall with her head. “Come on, let’s get you back to where Meli’s keeping everyone amused with her stories. I’m sure you need something cheery in your life right now.”

“You might be right, Lissa’s always pretty good at making things better for me.” It wasn’t the response Maribelle wanted to give, but telling someone that she’d only just gotten reacquainted with after so long that she didn’t want to hear her best friend telling stories that most likely involved her unborn child to some capacity. That would make her look like she hated kids or something, which would be mighty strange, seeing as she was a lawyer for cases involving children. But the truth was that what Henry had said about her caring so much and that she should be a mother was beginning to eat at her, the part of her mind that had convinced her that she shouldn’t try again with the child thing starting to be torn away.

It was when they were most of the way back to the nurse’s station that Cordelia stopped walking and Maribelle had to quickly get out of line to not run into her. “I know that we only know each other from school and that we’re both Meli’s friends, but I want to tell you something that not even she knows,” she said, looking back over her shoulder at Maribelle with a small smile. “Of course, I do intend on telling her this sooner rather than later, but…”

Maribelle could feel the tone of what was about to be said before anything else was put to words, and she decided that she didn’t want to hear it. “No, tell her before you tell me, since you’re such great friends and all that,” she muttered, deciding to walk past Cordelia without giving her a chance to finish what she was doing. “I’m not interested in your news, whatever it might be.”

Being rude to someone who’d helped her out wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but Maribelle was not in the mood to hear someone announce anything important right then. In fact, just the idea of what Cordelia was going to tell her had soured her mood further than what Henry had said already had, and so she decided she’d just leave that floor of the hospital without even giving her friend warning about where she was going. There were other places she could hang around until story time was over, after all, and she could use the alone time to start working on the case she’d been assigned to.

But no matter how hard she tried to escape the idea of babies and children and whatnot, it was always going to come right back to haunt her. Eventually she was going to have to come to a place of either pushing it away forever or accepting that she needed to get back on her feet and try again, but the thought of going through that emotional torture again was terrifying. Daunting. Something she wanted no part of.

Yet when Lissa finally got done with her conversations with her old coworkers and found her down in a little alcove on the first floor of the hospital, Maribelle couldn’t help but think about how happy she looked, how excited and peaceful her face seemed to be. On their ride back to her place to drop her off, she talked nonstop about how everyone was curious about everything relating to the baby, and about how the last thing Cordelia had said to her before she’d left was that she was expecting her own—which was what Maribelle had figured was what she was going to say. They were both eager to talk about what they had, and she…she was _jealous_ of it.

Jealous, and convincing herself to jump into trying to conceive all over again.

* * *

The job was deceptively easy on paper, but once it came time to actually getting work done it became clear to Vaike that the guy requesting his roof be redone had no idea what that kind of work actually entailed. There was a lot of climbing up and down different sections of the roof that hadn’t been talked about until he was standing there in front of the house, in the ritziest part of town, trying to make sense of how he was supposed to get the job done in the day he’d been told to do it in. That time estimate must’ve come with the false report of what the job was, and he wasn’t exactly happy that he was the one getting screwed over by needing to work faster than usual and later into the evening in order to be able to put the finishing touches on it the next morning.

If it went even a minute into the afternoon the following day, he’d be eaten alive, and not by the project manager or even the homeowner. That would be the fault of his dearest wife, who was nothing short of insistent that he be available that afternoon, so that they could go do something that she swore up and down was more important than either of their jobs could ever be. He wasn’t sure what it was she was going on about, but he knew better than to cross Maribelle—especially since he’d let their anniversary pass them by without really planning on doing much. It wasn’t fully his fault, he’d been focusing most of his efforts on a project he’d been assigned to for the city, and it wasn’t like she’d really been around home at all that week anyway.

Actually, she was spending most of her non-working time away from home, which was strange in that it meant he was rarely seeing her; he knew that she was doing that because she was spending all her time at Lissa and Frederick’s house, watching their baby and talking about how much she loved him and wanted to keep him for herself. “Y’know, if ya want a kid so bad, ya could always say somethin’ and not resort t’stealin’,” he’d said to her when they’d finally gone out for a nice meal to celebrate their anniversary, a week late. She’d brushed it off, telling him that she had said something a time or two and that he needed to do better at remembering it.

But there he was, sitting up on the roof of some guy’s mansion, doing exactly that: remembering all the fun times they’d had immediately after she’d gone about suggesting having children. After the point where she’d been super insistent about it, and when she’d let the suggestions drop off entirely, any time she’d mentioned it was done in jest and he was aware of it, up until rather recently when she seemed to have gotten back into the swing of pressing the issue. He had never been fully up for the idea, and still wasn’t, but he’d tossed caution into the “if it happens, it happens” box and let things be taken into hands that weren’t his own. So far nothing had come of it, and that was why he felt so comfortable making jokes about how her saying she wanted a kid would be better than stealing, because in one instance they’d end up with a child and in the other they wouldn’t.

He leaned back, looking up towards the sun in the relatively clear sky, and chuckled to himself. “Whatever she’s got planned for tomorrow, I really hope this job here doesn’t throw a wrench into it. There’s just so much roof and so little ‘a me t’go around, it’s not exactly gonna be easy gettin' it done when I’m supposed to.” A voice in his head was asking him why, then, was he sitting around and not working, but he squashed it by looking over at all of the freshly-replaced shingles he’d done that morning, roughly a quarter of the roof in a third of the time he was expected to do it in. “I’m gonna be here all night at this rate, and maybe all mornin’ tomorrow too, but whatever it takes t’be there for Maribelle’s thing, I’ll do it. It’s all for her.”

That was a solid mantra to follow, and after a few moments more of his break he went back to work, climbing off the roof to grab the next round of shingles and tools that he needed to get things done. While doing his job, he had to keep himself focused or else he was prone to making mistakes, and that meant keeping a close eye on what he was doing with little room for distraction, but when he heard sirens coming up the road he couldn’t help but investigate what was going on. He figured it was a police chase, or maybe a medical emergency at one of the other mansions in the area, but when he turned to look out at the road he saw police cars parked outside of the house he was at, officers walking towards him with guns drawn.

It wasn’t until they were standing at the bottom of the ladder he’d been using that he caught on to the fact that they weren’t there for anyone inside the house, but with getting to take a closer look at them he was able to recognize them as his friends, and they were able to recognize him as well. “Hey, funny seein’ you two here,” he greeted, giving them a wave. “What’s goin’ on? Tryin’ to catch some bad guy?”

They shared a look between them before one raised his gun with shaking hands, while the other said in her sternest voice, “Get off the roof with your hands up, you’ve got the right to remain silent and we’d like it if you’d use it.”

“What d’ya mean, I’ve got the right t’remain silent? I’m up here doin’ my job, what’s—“’

“This isn’t a joke, we aren’t here playing around, get down before one of us has to shoot you.” Now the voice was less stern but a lot angrier, and he flinched to hear it. “You’re under arrest for trespassing on this property, now get down.”

“Maybe we should bring him down ourselves?” the other officer asked, his gun still shaking in his hands. “I don’t know if I can shoot him, he’s our friend…”

“If you get told to shoot him, you’re shooting him, Stahl. There’s no room for playing friends right here.” Now she was raising her gun, hands much steadier than Stahl’s were. “We’re told to arrest the trespasser for being here without permission and with falsified documents, we’re going to do it one way or another. He acts belligerent, he’s getting shot.”

It was there, hearing the reality that for some reason he was being considered a criminal and was facing down getting shot by two officers that he happened to be friends with, that Vaike decided he should just go along with them and hopefully end this as fast as possible. “Okay, y’know what, that settles it right there, I’m comin’ down and explainin’ t’ya that I’m supposed t’be here. Ya wanna see ‘falsified documents’, I’ll show ya the legit paperwork I have t’be doin’ this roof.” As he climbed down the ladder he could hear the two officers stepping away, but he didn’t know what they’d done with their guns until he had both feet firmly planted on the ground.

That was when he was tackled down by the one who’d been giving the commands, her yelling his rights at him at the top of her lungs. “You’re being a bit unnecessary right now, Sully, you totally could do this without treating him like he’s the scum kind of criminal,” Stahl said as he grabbed some handcuffs off of his person and waited to be given the signal to start cuffing their man.

“You think he’s not scum? That’s how they get you, they act like they’re your friend for a decade and then they turn out to be some damn trash loser who tries to rob people and destroy their homes!” Sitting on top of Vaike’s back as she had him pinned to the ground, him trying to speak up over her about his innocence, she completely ignored him and motioned for Stahl to do the honors of the handcuffing. “I can’t believe this, I really thought you were a good guy, but guess I was proven wrong, huh?”

“I am a good guy, what happened t’innocent until proven guilty? I didn’t do anythin’ I wasn’t contracted t’do!” He was blatantly ignoring the rights that he had, but these were his friends and Vaike felt insulted that he’d been ripped from his job and actually detained by them. “C’mon, you’ve gotta understand that you’ve got the wrong guy!”

Even with protesting his treatment, he didn’t resist being dragged up to his feet and marched over to one of the police cars, pushed into the back seat without even being given the choice to get in himself. Thankfully, he was riding in the one that Stahl was driving, but as he was the criminal in the scenario it wasn’t a pleasant ride. “I wasn’t expecting it to be you up on that roof when we got here,” he admitted as they drove away, leaving behind all the work materials and the truck Vaike had used to transport them there. “When we saw it was you, I told Sully that there had to be some mistake, but she insisted that there wasn’t. Right address, right description, it had to be you.”

“That’s great, just great. Y’know I’m gonna get Maribelle in on this, she’s gonna call up a lawyer friend, and I’m gonna get back at ya both for unjust arrest. I know that I didn’t do a single thing wrong with this job and I don’t get why you’re arrestin’ me.” Trying to shake loose a hand or something to feel a little less in trouble, Vaike could feel the handcuffs rubbing against his wrists, making them start to ache. “I can already see it, all over the news, talkin’ ‘bout how ya both lost your jobs over bein’ stupidly bad at them.”

“I think I’d stop insulting us while you’re in this position if I were you, anything you say right now can be used against you when this goes to court.” It didn’t matter how many times those rights were told to him, he wasn’t going to shut up until he felt he had the justice he deserved in the matter, and he was pretty sure Stahl knew that.

He didn’t stop making some kind of comment about his innocence until after they were at the jail; it was when he was getting booked that he realized how real this all was, that it had gone past the point of elaborate joke and was getting to where it was going to actually impact his life. The mugshots and fingerprints were nothing short of horrible, the feeling of having done something against the law starting to come over him even though he knew he hadn’t done anything of the sort, and after he’d been changed into regulation clothing (which was uncomfortable at best), he was forcefully led to a cell for holding; because he was going to be there until he was bailed out, there was reason to release him, or his stay was looking more permanent, that was the point where he stopped trying to fight everything entirely.

This was the first time he’d ever seen this side of a jail cell for this reason. There had been a couple times where he’d been in a cell to fix something about it, but he’d always been able to leave when he was done with the work. This was different, this was him being arrested and actually in trouble, requiring to be behind those bars. “Wow, someone who I haven’t seen in here before, I’m impressed.” The voice came from inside the cell, which Vaike hadn’t even looked around, and he turned to see that there was someone laying on the cement floor, drumming the air with his fingers. “Which officers brought you in here? Gotta commend them for introducing a new face to the mix.”

“Why does it matter who brought me here, I didn’t do anythin’ t’deserve it,” he replied, walking over to the guy and staring down at him. “Why’re ya on the floor?”

“Bored, waiting to get moved to my usual cell, don’t like that we don’t have anything to do in here. Now go ahead and answer my question, since you thought it was fine to ask your own.” Vaike continued staring down at the man for a moment before telling him that it had been Stahl and Sully who’d brought him in, neglecting to mention that he was friends with them or anything to potentially humanize either of them. “Ah yes, them. Good for breaking up bar brawls and domestic disputes, those two.”

“Lemme guess, you’re kinda a regular around here?” He was looking at the man, seeing how he didn’t seem bothered at all to be in the jail cell. “I don’t know how ya could do it, bein’ here’s already nothin’ but super stressful and I’m not enjoyin’ it.”

The man brought himself to sitting, his fingers still drumming as if he hadn’t moved at all. “Do you think anyone actually enjoys being here in jail? It’s not all sunshine and flowers, but it’s not all bad either. Especially not when you’re brought in by decent officers like Caitlyn and Abel.” He saw Vaike’s reaction to using their first names, rather than their last names that they typically went by, and he laughed at it. “What, didn’t think I’d be familiar enough with them to know that when you call them Officer so-and-so, it’s done because they’ve got another name hiding?”

“That’s not my problem there, I’m just wonderin’ how ya learned those names. It took me promisin’ t’tell them my own name t’get them to let me know theirs,” Vaike recalled, thinking back to the first time he’d met the two and how they’d immediately taken to being friends because they all had first names they preferred not to use. “Like, even with that bargainin’ chip they didn’t exactly want me knowin’, yet here ya are, knowin’ like it’s everyone’s business.”

“You spend enough time in here, you learn everyone’s names, it’s just something that happens.” Now the man was standing up, so that he could meet Vaike face-to-face. “You’re a newbie around here though, so I can’t blame you for not believing me. But now that you know that, you mind introducing yourself to me with your actual name so I know it up front? I’d hate to steal that thunder from you if I found it out behind your back.”

Despite what the man had just said, Vaike didn’t want to give in to the idea that he would be in jail long enough to fall victim to such a thing. “I’ll tell ya my name if ya tell me yours, it’s only courteous t’do things like that, y’know?”

“That’s fair, how could I be so rude to demand something of you without providing you anything first. The name’s Gaius, you’ve probably seen or heard about me on various news shows for robbery, break-ins, and the occasional fistfight with people standing between me and what I want.” He gave Vaike a big smile, complete with dramatic flourish of his hands to show how cheesy he was being. “Now it’s your turn, who are you, why are you here, anything like that, go!”

“Uh, sure, my name’s Vaike and I’m only here ‘cause my asshole friends decided t’not listen t’me when I told ‘em I hadn’t done anythin’ wrong.” There wasn’t any way that he was going to be as over-dramatic about his introduction as Gaius had been, and his failure to do anything special earned him narrowed eyes and a suspicious glance. “What? It’s the truth, I told ya already that I’m friends with ‘em, that’s how I knew their names.”

“I get that, but that’s rather bold of you, expecting officers to let you do whatever you want just because you’re their friend. If you’re breaking the law, that’s the end of it, they aren’t going to give you special treatment just because you know them.” Scoffing at the idea of preferential treatment for personally knowing an officer, Gaius casually strolled to the front of the cell and looked all ways down the hall to see if there was anyone within earshot, then came back to Vaike’s side and whispered in close to him, “Now, if you want to make it out of here quickly, what you have to do is seduce them, that’s how you get what you want.”

The suggestion came as a shock to him, although it was not completely unsurprising, but it wasn’t something that Vaike would ever consider doing just to get free faster. “What’re ya talkin’ about, I can’t seduce anyone, Maribelle’d have my head if she ever found out!”

“Hold on, that can’t be that common of a name, are you talking about the Themis girl? Like, daughter of the big-shot society man?” Gaius’ recognition of Maribelle’s name was just as shocking as what he’d just said about needing to seduce someone, but given that he’d already proven himself to know things about people Vaike merely nodded in agreement. “How’re you attached to her? She your girlfriend? Your lady-crush?”

“So you know who she and her dad are, but y’don’t know that she’s been married t’me for four years?” Now it was Vaike’s turn to surprise Gaius, even if his reaction was to open his mouth slightly before giving an expression of approval. “How d’ya know who she is, anyway? She ain’t ever told me she knows some dude like you.”

“I’ve never personally met her, that’d be why. Had a bit of a run-in with her father when I was younger, earned me a couple years behind bars that I got out of…somehow, still not sure about how it worked, but her name was attached to the ruling. Never thought that’d matter until now, honestly.” Walking back to the front of the cell, Gaius stuck an arm through the bars and tried waving someone to come check on them, leaving Vaike standing in the middle trying to make sense of what he’d just been told. How had he gotten thrown into this cell with an experienced criminal when he’d done nothing wrong himself? This was all a huge mistake, he had been following work orders and now he was in serious trouble, and he needed to do something about it.

As it turned out, what Gaius was attempting to do was considered paying back a favor that he hadn’t known he’d be able to repay until that moment. Once he’d flagged a guard down and brought them over, he let them know what was going on and that something needed to be done about his current cellmate, because if they didn’t take action fast enough there could be swift legal moves made against them. It wasn’t “fast” by any means, but within a couple hours there were several guards at the door to the cell, asking for both men to follow them so that they could go through the next step of the jailing process.

It was while they were getting moved over to a different part of the jail that someone stepped in, papers raised that he had permission to intervene where he was. “I fail to understand what has happened to get us to this point, but I am trying my best to put things in order,” Lon’qu told the guards, exchanging the papers he was holding for one of the guards to follow with him, Vaike hanging in the balance of the exchange. “I have been given express orders for this man to come with me, for as long as it takes to get his legal team situated and arranged. This arrest of an innocent man will not stand.”

“Dude, how are you friends with everyone here?” Gaius loudly asked as he was shuffled away, unable to get the answer he was looking for as there was no time for it to be given.

While he was moved one way into the heart of the jail, Lon’qu, Vaike, and the guard with him all went in a different direction, ending up in a back office that had a barred-over window and heavy locks on the doors. “The moment I heard they had booked you on a trespassing charge, on top of other charges that seem faked at best, I knew I had to step in wherever I could.” Standing at his desk instead of sitting down, Lon’qu put his hands in front of his face and tapped his fingers lightly together in thought. “I have been unable to get through to Maribelle herself, but her office is aware of the situation and are trying to put together a team able to defend you if this escalates to anything beyond a hold and release.”

“They’ve gotta release me tonight, I’ve got places t’be tomorrow that I can’t miss. Once someone can tell Maribelle she’ll do whatever she can t’get me out, I know she will.” He was aware that her line of work dealt with children and wasn’t meant for getting grown adults out of jail who hadn’t done anything wrong, but being able to hope that she’d help him was enough for Vaike. “D’ya even know what happened? One minute I’m workin’ on a roof, next I’m gettin’ guns pointed at me and thrown into a cop car.”’

Lon’qu looked at the guard standing at the door, watching them both carefully, and shook his head. “I cannot say that I know what happened or not, I am trying to get those answers for us both but as of right now nothing’s been said. What I do know is that something here isn’t right, and I don’t think it’s anything with what you did.”

“Thanks for believin’ in me, I know I was just doin’ my work.” The weight of the situation was becoming heavier with every bit of information that he’d learned, but the only way to beat it was to never give up on knowing he was in the right. But when he looked at Lon’qu and saw the stone-cold expression on his face, the look that said that he was trying to be impartial but also protect a friend, at some cost, he knew that pressing the issue of his innocence for too long could have negative effects elsewhere.

This became all-too-clear when Lon’qu gestured towards the phone on his desk, while making eye contact with the guard at the door. “I would offer you a chance to call your wife and tell her personally what is going on, but it is not within my power to do so. Do know that I will continue trying to call her myself, but she’s been impossible to access from all my attempts so far.”

“Try her personal phone, don’t keep callin’ her at work,” Vaike replied, thinking about where Maribelle probably was that wasn’t doing her job. “She’s bound t’be at her friend’s house, watchin’ that baby again, if I know her well enough. You’ve gotta have access to her personal number, don’t ya?”

“I don’t, but I do know someone who does, thank you.” Stiffening up as the guard at the door clutched their gun tighter, Lon’qu gave a small bowing nod in Vaike’s direction before saying, “I think that it would be best if we ceased conversation until I have confirmation that your legal team is in order at which point I will let you know what your options there are, but I would hate for you to incriminate yourself by speaking freely with me.”

“If there’s a risk ‘a me doin’ that, I’m sure I did it while on my way t’the jail, I wasn’t really watchin’ what I said that whole time.” When Vaike was met with silence he realized that Lon’qu had been serious about what he’d said they should do, and he made it a point to stay quiet as well until there was something else to be said.

Of course, that would require things going according to plan, and when no call was given at any point over the course of an hour to update the status of the legal team it became increasingly obvious that keeping him in that office was going to be dangerous for both of them involved. That meant that Lon’qu had to make the decision to send him back into the heart of the jail, led away by the very guard that had been watching them converse, and he only did that with the promise that he would get everything sorted out and arranged to be fixed as soon as he could.

Being treated like a criminal for doing nothing wrong at all was easily one of the worst things that had happened to Vaike in his life, and that was including some rather nasty incidents that had miraculously not involved the law in any way. Those fights had always been legal, he hadn’t taken part in anything that was against the law, and he would assert his innocence in that and in what he was currently in “trouble” for with every breath he had. All of the worry he’d had about running across one of his old rivals from the fighting days through work had been misplaced, he should have been more concerned about someone at the jail recognizing him. The cell he was placed in this time was smaller than the original one, with a single bed and not much else to take note of, and he wished that he’d been put back in the other one with Gaius, just for having the company around.

The voices of the other people that were being held there were echoing through the halls, people screaming and calling out names, begging for forgiveness, or even loudly praying for someone to save them from what they’d gotten themselves into. Even though he could have joined in with the noise, there didn’t seem to be any point to it in Vaike’s mind, especially since he knew that there were a lot of people working to get him out of there as fast as they could. He hadn’t been paying attention whenever they’d said how much his bail was, but it wasn’t like he was going to be paying it himself, and that was information Lon’qu would have had access to anyway so he could have already passed that along to anyone who’d be able to make use of it.

That bed there in the cell was one of the most uncomfortable things he’d ever been expected to lay on, but since there was literally nothing else for him to do he decided that lounging around on it would make sense. Even with how hard it was, he found himself falling asleep laying on it, only waking up when he heard someone loudly yelling his name at him, demanding that he get up and leave the cell to join everyone else at dinner. He wasn’t hungry by any means, and after such a rude awakening he wasn’t exactly thrilled with having to interact with others, but disobeying a jail worker would land him in even more hot water so he got up and followed along.

The cafeteria where the prisoners were expected to eat was predictably dull and reminiscent of somewhere no one wanted to be, and even though he didn’t want to eat Vaike still went through the motions of being served whatever the mystery-like meat of the day was, only to let it sit in front of him as he sat at a table in the corner. If it wasn’t for a familiar face coming to join him, he would have most likely fallen asleep waiting to go back to his cell, but Gaius made sure to keep that from happening, dropping his tray on the table and talking as if he’d been there from the start. “I’m surprised to see you in here with the rest of us, mister preferential treatment. Not everyone gets pulled into the big man’s office right from the start, what was that about?”

“I’m good friends with Lon’qu and he wanted t’help me outta here,” he answered, “but nothin’ came of it ‘cause Maribelle’s off thinkin’ ‘bout other things that ain’t me. No big deal, I know he’ll get somethin’ together soon enough.”

“Like I said when he took you, how are you friends with everyone here? The officers, the man in charge, next you’re going to tell me you personally know some other figure that everyone else looks up to or something.” Gaius chuckled, while Vaike didn’t even bat an eye at the comment, not sure how he was supposed to respond because there _were_ people like that he could mention. “Anyway, nice to know that you technically lied to me when we first introduced ourselves. Telling me your last name and thinking you’ll get away with it, what kind of amateur do you think I am?”

“I told ya the name I go by, what difference does it make? Ain’t like we’re gonna ever see each other outside ‘a this place, there’s no reason t’know what my first name is.” Everyone knew him by his last name, it was to the point that people had no idea that it wasn’t actually his first name, and for this stranger to have already gotten that information was a bit concerning, especially in the jail. “How’d ya figure it out, though? I hadn’t seen anythin’ that had it on there outside of the legal documents when I first got here.”

Smiling, Gaius at least had some good news to share about the topic. “Don’t worry, I don’t know what it actually is, didn’t get that far yet. What I do know is that someone mentioned that you went by your last name and to keep that in mind when interacting with you, and so…well, that actually explains it.”

“That’s good at least, if I found out someone was goin’ ‘round just droppin’ that name on people I’d wanna fight ‘em ‘bout it. It ain’t who I am, even if the papers say it is.” Shuddering at the thought of someone there calling him by his actual name, just like he’d felt bad hearing the proper names of his friends earlier, Vaike pushed his tray around with one hand, not wanting to touch the food on it. “If ya don’t mind me askin’, what’s the plan from here? What do we get t’do after dinner?”

“Go back to our cells and sleep, wait for morning to come, nothing special,” Gaius replied, sounding like what he was saying should have been common knowledge, but for him it was. “You’ll get used to the noise eventually, people do tend to shut up once the guards pull their guns out on them at nighttime. It’s a rough place to stay, but you’ll survive it. I’ve been in and out of here for years now, you grow a thick skin after a while.”

“I don’t see myself stayin’ in here past sunset, so maybe I shouldn’t think too much ‘bout sleepin’ yet.” There was a look that Gaius gave him as he said that, one that shouted that he was making a mistake in that belief, but Vaike chose not to buy into it. He was going to stay firm in his convictions that he hadn’t done anything wrong, and he was going to believe in his friend’s attempt to get him out as soon as he could.

After being taken back to his cell, he’d been given the opportunity to ask the guard for something but he’d chosen not to, not wanting to dig himself a hole in terms of conversation that he’d have to fix later. Right now, it was about staying awake and waiting to hear that Maribelle was going to rescue him out of the place he’d ended up without meaning to. Unbeknownst to him, it had already been long past sunset when dinner had happened, and he was staying awake deeper into the night that he needed to, with no possible chance of rescue that evening. He was made aware of that fact after he saw several heavily-armed guards walk by, checking to see if people were still awake in their cells, cautioning them that it was nearing midnight and that they needed to sleep at some point if they wanted to be on the good side of everyone there.

Laying in the bed with the fact that it was so late fresh in his mind, it was taking all of Vaike’s strength to not start getting angry about what had happened. How had he gone from a routine job (if even one that was incorrectly assigned) to spending the night in jail? He hadn’t done anything that he wasn’t asked to do, he’d had the contract for the job with him, he had even chatted with the homeowner before he’d started working—and yet he had gotten in serious trouble with the law about it! Something wasn’t right and he knew it, but he needed someone else to catch on to that same fact before he spent too much more time in jail without a chance to defend himself.

Sleep that night was rough and he couldn’t actually say he slept for more than an hour at a time without something waking him up and making him miss home all over again. A couple of times when he was woken up, he’d wonder what Maribelle was doing in that moment, if she was sleeping and ignoring the fact that something had gone wrong with him, or if she was frantically trying to get the pieces together to get him out of there. He came to the conclusion that whichever option it was, she most likely wasn’t doing it in the comfort of their home, instead being at Lissa’s so that she could keep spending time with that baby that she loved so much.

When morning came, he’d convinced himself that he would be saved soon enough, but nothing seemed to be any different than it had been the night before. After being brought what could be considered a breakfast, something he barely picked at but ate some of just because he hadn’t eaten the night before, a group of guards ended up at the door to his cell, Lon’qu in the middle of them. “You have a high chance of being released today,” he said, trying to sound as stiff and professional as he could in the presence of guards, “but it hinges on one key piece of evidence. The contract you signed that was considered to be faked. What did you do with it?”

“The contract? All those documents were in the work truck, up on the front seat, just in case someone came by t’start causin’ trouble with me. I didn’t get the chance to show ‘em when I was called down off the roof, d’ya think that they’ll clear my name in all this?” He wasn’t sure if he should have said as much as he did, but watching Lon’qu process what he’d heard and look at him for more seemed to be a good sign. “They took the truck keys from me when I got here, but it should’ve been locked up nice ‘n tight overnight.”

“I’m afraid that it was broken into at some point, your legal team went to investigate and found the windows to all be shattered and everything missing from inside the vehicle. I suppose we will have to direct them to converse with your employer for their copy of the same documents, which may take some time.” It was a blow to Vaike to hear that his current chance at freedom had been destroyed by someone like that, and he was certain that Lon’qu felt the same about having to say it. “You should have a chance to speak with Maribelle here soon, if all goes well. Since she was expected to be involved in the defense we didn’t want to get her talking to you until we had leads on where to go.”

The guards were trying to push Lon’qu away from the cell with those last words, deeming what he was talking about to be inappropriate for the current setting, and as much as Vaike wanted to yell out at him about how much he needed to talk to her, he resisted because he was already putting everyone trying to help him through an uphill battle. The last thing he wanted to do right then was make the situation uglier and possibly cost Lon’qu his job because of showing a prisoner some decency. If it meant staying quiet and waiting until he was approached again, that was what he was going to have to do.

All day he sat there in the cell, waiting for someone to come let him walk free, but nothing of the sort ever happened. But when dinnertime came and people were being escorted down to the cafeteria for their one time of the day where they were allowed to do what they wanted, he was instead taken back to that office where he’d spent time the day before. Expecting Lon’qu to be in there waiting for him, he went inside with high hopes, but they were quickly brought back down to the ground when the person inside the office was a woman he wasn’t immediately familiar with.

She seemed just as shocked to be walked in on by someone who was being detained as he was to be walking in on her, and it took a few moments for her to collect herself before she apologized for being in the office and rushed out, pushing past all guards that were there in the doorway. “What business does she have being in here?” one of the guards asked loudly, whispers amongst the others playing the role of his answer. “She needs to understand that she can be here but not while we’re working, that was embarrassing to see.”

“She wasn’t aware that you would be bringing a visitor by earlier than expected, she needed access to some files that are relevant to her own line of work and that was that,” Lon’qu said from behind the group, coming into the office and allowing for everyone to file in, most of the guards leaving now that their duty was done. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d run into her before this, Vaike, seeing as she and your wife work in the same field.”

“Can’t say I’d ever seen her before in my life,” he replied, trying to remember if he’d encountered a spindly woman like that before, but she didn’t feel important enough to what was going on for him to make much progress. “Oh well, I’ll haveta ask Maribelle who she is once I see her again.”

“Yes, wait until you’re actually in her presence to do that, don’t waste your time here on it. We’re going to get you that promised call, so that you can assure her you’re alive and well in here. Panne has been at her side all day, ever since we found the roadblock to your freedom she’s been inconsolable for…some reason.” Lon’qu didn’t seem to know what information he was withholding, but Vaike knew that he was _supposed_ to be available that afternoon and had instead spent the time staring at the cement wall of a jail cell. “They should still be together now, if you still want to call her.”

He nodded, not wanting to waste the opportunity he’d been given. “If she needs someone t’cheer her up, at least hearin’ my voice should do that for her. How long will I be allowed t’talk with her?”

“Try to keep it brief, I’m certain that the guards would much rather be patrolling the halls than listening to your conversation with your wife.” What happened next came all in a matter of seconds, the phone being dialed and handed over to Vaike, while the guards at the door were pushed aside by the woman from before coming back in, a book in her arms; Lon’qu saw her at the very same moment that the line connected, so the first thing that Maribelle heard on the other side was him asking, “Miriel, what in Naga’s name do you want from me now? Haven’t you researched enough about this case from me?”

“What’s Miriel doing at the jail at this hour?” Maribelle asked, thinking that she was on the line with the person she’d just heard, not the person that she actually was talking to. “That’s so strange, I know that she’s taken an interest in that abuse case but she could always get the files from me.”

“I was told ya were distraught ‘bout somethin’,” Vaike chose to say to start, getting his wife to gasp in surprise that she was talking to him and not Lon’qu, “but there ain’t exactly much I can do ‘bout that bein’ in here still. What’s goin’ on, why are ya havin’ a bad time, is it ‘cause I missed whatever it was ya wanted t’do today?”

Her breath caught in her throat and he swore he heard her sob before replying to him. “What I wanted to do today didn’t matter in the end, it wasn’t that important after all. What is important is that you’re okay, that they haven’t made you suffer in that place yet. I want to strangle the man responsible for you being in there, he’s taken advantage of the law system for nothing but getting an innocent man thrown in jail.”

“So ya know what happened t’put me in here?”

“I know enough about it, yes. The man you were doing the roof for decided to try and commit fraud against the company, but when it didn’t work and he didn’t have the money for what you were doing, he took matters into his own hands. He’s a nasty liar and he deserves to pay for what he did to you.” Her voice was clearly sad, something that made Vaike’s heart hurt to hear. He wanted to be right there to fix things for her, to make her cheer up and laugh when he hugged her tightly and reminded her of good things in their lives. “You should be out by tomorrow night, if all goes well, and then we get to make the case for getting your retribution against everyone involved in this.”

“I’m not plottin’ a revenge case against anyone, sorry Maribelle.” As much as it would have made the whole situation better if he did go through with getting some kind of revenge against the man who’d sent him to jail and everyone who’d helped him along the way, it didn’t feel right to think along those lines. “I’m just gonna get out ‘a this place and then act like it never happened, once everythin’ goes back t’normal. I wasn’t tresspassin’, I didn’t make any fake documents or anythin’, I was doin’ my job and someone else lied, and as long as I know that I’ll be fine.”

“I know that you’ll be fine but…oh, whatever, as long as you’re fine I’m fine, and that’s all that matters.” Something was said to Maribelle on her side of the line that he couldn’t quite make out, but she seemed happy to relay it once it was finished being said. “Panne wants me to tell you that she thinks you’re weak because you’re only staying two nights there in the jail, I don’t quite understand why she thinks this but I’m sure it’s meant to be slightly motivating, maybe?”

“Tell her that I’ll gladly be weak for bein’ in here only two nights, it’s two nights too long away from ya and I don’t like it. Tomorrow can’t come fast enough.” The call wrapped up quickly after that, Lon’qu looking unamused when the phone was handed back to him and the line dead, but he didn’t say anything about what had been heard from the call. Before he was escorted back to his cell, Vaike made sure to thank him for that opportunity, letting him know that while talking to Maribelle had made him happy, hearing Panne’s quip get passed along to him was what was going to give him the strength to make it out okay.

And okay he was going to end up being, even if he missed dinner that night because he was taken back to his cell rather than to the cafeteria. He forced himself to sleep early and woke up long before the breakfast delivery, but spent the time thinking about how Maribelle had seemed sad about something but hadn’t said a word explaining what it was, and when he saw her he’d have to figure out what was going on there. It was midday when the guards came for him once more, without having someone higher up in their presence, and rather than taking him to the office he was led back to a different part of the building, where he was reunited with his belongings that he’d had on him during the arrest, before starting the process of having his name cleared and record wiped from the unjust events that had taken place against him.

Walking outside the jail a free man once more, he’d expected to be greeted by Maribelle or even Panne, since they both would have known when he was getting released, but it was instead the pair of officers responsible for him being arrested in the first place sitting outside waiting. “Sorry about all that, seems we were told to get the wrong guy this time and we might have—er, I might have let it get to my head,” Sully said in apology, offering her arms out for a hug that Vaike hesitated in taking up. When he finally gave in, Stahl grabbed them both and hugged them as well, giving his own apology but reminding them that he hadn’t been convinced it was true until he was partaking in the actual arrest.

“So, uh, how am I gettin' home from this?” Vaike asked once they were all done hugging and it was just the three of them standing there, looking between each other. “Either ‘a ya gonna take me home not in the back seat ‘a your car?”

“I think it’d be best if you let someone else do it, we don’t want to make Maribelle panic that something went wrong and that she was getting arrested next.” Stahl’s reasoning was solid, even if Vaike was sure he’d married someone with a bit more sense than that. “Besides, I’m fairly confident that there’ll be someone else here that wants to take you home.”

As he was saying that, they could all hear footsteps against the pavement behind them, and they looked to see Lon’qu, arms folded over his chest, coming to join them. “If you’re discussing rides away from this place, I’m taking a break right now to get you home where you belong. You two, get back to your patrols, I understand that seeing your friend get released was important but it’s over now, no time for slacking.” They both stood there for a moment longer, almost as if trying to get him to say something else, but eventually headed out into the nearby parking lot where their cars surely were. “Of all the officers directly responsible for this, it just had to be the two you get most reckless with, how humorous. I’m sure you’ll all look back on this the next time you go out drinking and laugh.”

“Eh, somethin’ tells me I ain’t gonna be doin’ that with them again for a while.” Shrugging, as he hadn’t even thought about what kind of impact what had happened would have on his personal life, Vaike watched as Lon’qu slowly blinked at him, before motioning for him to follow him out to where he’d parked so that they could get going. That car ride was quiet, nothing but the low drone of the radio and the sound of the vehicle in motion filling the air between them, but it wasn’t so much that neither of them had anything to say as it was that they didn’t know where to start.

It was while sitting at a light, about to make the turn into the part of town that Lon’qu lived in, that something was said. “You’ll be coming to my house first, that’s where Maribelle has been all day if Panne has been telling me correct information,” he explained, in case there was any confusion for why they were going the way they were. “I’d love to stay and watch you two reunite but this break isn’t going to last forever and I do have a job to return to. That blasted woman is back in my office today and I need to be present to supervise her.”

Laughing, but keeping himself relatively calm, Vaike looked over at Lon’qu as his grip tightened on the steering wheel at mention of his unwanted visitor. “Why don’t ya just tell her t’do whatever she’s doin’ elsewhere? If it bothers ya that much, ya gotta put your foot down and tell her t’stop.”

“If only it were that easy, she’s got herself wrapped up in a case that requires old rulings and casework that just so happens to be stored in my office, from before I was even here in Ylisstol. It’s not my place to tell her to stop.” The sigh Lon’qu gave at that was forced, harsh, and showed just how unhappy he was about the arrangement. “Whatever. She’ll get out of my hair soon enough and my life at work can get back to normal. These past few days have been nightmare-like and I am glad it’s over.”

“You’re tellin’ me, all ya had t’do in it was try to help a friend out, I had t’live through all that!” While he was thankful that nothing bad had happened to him while in the jail, the fact that he’d been there at all was still bothering Vaike, and he knew it was going to take some time before he got over that he’d been stuck in there for a false reason. “Now I’ve gotta make things up t’Maribelle, just ‘cause I missed out on somethin’ that really mattered to her.”

He heard Lon’qu take in a sharp breath, and the grip that he’d been letting loosen up tightened once more. “What you missed ended up being nothing important, but I will let her give you the full explanation of what it was, if she chooses to. It has been a rough couple of days for her as well and it is not my place to tell you her burdens.”

“Makin’ it sound like she’s dyin’ or somethin’, gods. I’m sure whatever it is, once she tells me all about it she’ll get over it.” He didn’t have a single clue what it was that was bothering her so much, but if it was expected that she’d be the one to tell him, he wasn’t going to push further with the issue. By that point, they were sitting outside of the house, car turned off and just the two men sitting there, looking at each other. There was one thing Vaike wanted to say before they got out, and he did it as Lon’qu was getting unbuckled: “Thanks for stickin’ your neck out there for me like that, it’s good t’know that I’ve got a friend like ya around.”

“Risking my job to protect someone that I know is something that I should never have done, but for some reason it felt appropriate to do it when it came to you. I never expected to have a ‘friend’ in that situation, but here we are.” Now opening his door, Lon’qu paused and shut it once more, looking over at Vaike with a hint of a smile on his lips. “Speaking of that situation, how curious that we’ve known each other for some time and you’ve never told me that you don’t go by—”

“Oh man, not you too? There was a guy there in the jail who was obsessed with findin’ out what my name is, please don’t start with it, just please.” The smile grew as Lon’qu chuckled to himself, while Vaike was left staring at him, wondering how that sentence he’d cut off was going to end. This led to him climbing out of the car, calling out, “Wait, are ya tellin’ me that ya know what it is, or are ya just sayin’ that ya know that there’s another name?”

Lon’qu shook his head, as he walked towards the front door of the house. “What I know is confidential information, you did not tell me it yourself so I will keep it to myself out of courtesy for you. Friends, right?”

“Ya sneaky bastard, yeah that’s what friends do, they respect what the other wants.” It took a lot to not follow that by saying he wanted to know how much Lon’qu knew, but they were so close to being inside the house that derailing everything further was just a waste of time. But he never made in inside, as when Lon’qu opened the door he was ran past by a completely hysterical Maribelle, who charged at Vaike so quickly that when she grabbed him she was almost forceful enough to knock him off his feet.

If he had planned on saying something to her right away, he couldn’t find the words to do so, her raw emotion drowning out all of his thoughts. She was crying, her tears bleeding onto his shirt where she had her face buried in him, and he could hear her trying to say something to him and making a better attempt of it than he was currently able to. “You’re a complete dumbass but I love you,” she choked out, voice wildly changing in pitch with every syllable. “I love you, _I love you_ , I hate that you were thrown in jail but I love you.”

“I love ya too, but what’s up with the cryin’? I’m fine, there ain’t any reason for it, is there?” Him asking that caused her to get choked up again, and after looking down at the top of her head and gently kissing it once, he turned his attention over to the front door, where Lon’qu and Panne were both standing, one in the doorway and the other a couple steps away, both watching them with pained expressions. “There…is a reason for it, huh?” he then added, looking at the two of them, not expecting Maribelle to respond.

When their faces didn’t change but they instead came closer together, locking hands as they watched the scene before them, he was starting to expect the worst. Maybe it was that she was really dying, and she hadn’t wanted to say anything about it until they were able to see each other again. There didn’t seem to be any other option past that, not when she was being so affectionate and clingy, but once again he didn’t know how to word what he needed to ask her. Her crying had picked up in intensity again, leaving him helpless there as she held him tightly, but as he watched the two at the front door he saw that Lon’qu was asking something and Panne’s only response was to unlatch her hand from his and move it to brushing against her inner arm.

He was lost in staring at them, hoping that one of them would give him the answers he needed, but Maribelle pulled herself off of him and gave a loud sniffle, her eyes red from all her crying and the area around them slightly swollen. She turned to see the two at the door still watching and when she saw Panne’s gesture she choked up again, but forced herself to give a few deep breaths before returning to facing her husband, trying her best to calm herself down but being unable to fully stop the loud gasps for air she was having to make while still crying. “Something really bad happened to _us_ recently,” she said, shifting her eyes towards the ground, “but I didn’t know it went wrong until yesterday.”

Her words immediately confused him. “What d’ya mean, happened recently? Are ya talkin’ ‘bout this whole arrest nonsense? That’s about the only bad thing I can think of right now, but ya knew about that before yesterday, didn’t ya?”

Hearing her struggle to keep herself somewhat composed before speaking was the last hint he needed to know that her fragile emotional state had nothing to do with what he’d gone through over the course of two days. “I…I don’t know how to tell you this, I really don’t” she admitted, grabbing his hands and holding them in her own, pulling them close until she was holding them right in front of her stomach. “But it’s something I’ve been keeping from you for a while now, because I thought it wouldn’t happen again and then it did.”

By the time she got through coming clean about everything, starting with something from years before and ending with the previous day’s heartbreak, they were both sitting out in the driveway, both crying, and both on the verge of making a promise that they’d never let any of this happen again. Even if an actual promise wasn’t verbally given, in his mind Vaike had told himself he’d never, under any circumstances, let Maribelle hurt like this again, no matter what.

 


	8. The Knock on Wood

Getting to the point where they could move past everything that had happened without feeling anything negative still lingering about it was hard, and Maribelle couldn’t wrap her head around having to deal with any more losses than she already had, but she knew that compared to some people she knew, she’d experienced very little. Once she’d finally admitted to the first loss to the other person it mattered to, in the same breath as explaining the second, she’d sworn to herself that she’d grow from the experience and not get so emotionally attached to something that she barely knew about.

But that was hard, given that she was someone who worked closely with children and for children, and her heart and mind were always focused on the well-being of children. How was she going to move past getting super upset by having lost two chances at being a mother if she was constantly surrounded by other mothers and children? She had no intentions of giving up what she loved doing, and if it meant that she start getting attached more to everyone else to distance herself from the heartbreak she’d experienced, that was what she was going to have to do, until she could finally get a child of her own.

Life slipped back into its usual pattern, although with a lot of small additions to it that couldn’t be ignored because they were permanent fixtures at that point. Every week was full of long work days, capped by spending time with friends or at home, but with a heavier reliance on being with friends than anything else. Maribelle couldn’t help it that she preferred to be anywhere than at home most of the time, because she would find herself stunned by the relative silence of the house, wishing that there were some child-like noises filling the rooms that stayed so quiet all the time. To combat that, she found herself sitting at Lissa’s house more frequently than she’d ever expected to be at that point, in charge of watching baby Owain whenever she came to visit. He wasn’t a perfect way to cope with the pain she felt, but he was at least a real child that she could actually interact with, and the fact that he belonged to her best friend made him all the sweeter.

But she couldn’t allow herself to fall into the trap of just spending time over there with him, so she at least made valiant attempts to have plans with Panne outside of their encounters while both at work; it would have gone better if she didn’t start showing disinterest whenever they met up somewhere, typically at one of their houses. “If you don’t have any reason to keep trying to plan things with me, you don’t need to feel forced into doing so,” Panne eventually said after yet another get-together that ended in them sitting around, trying to make small talk that wasn’t coming naturally. “Your mind is clearly other places and you should be going to them if you need to.”

“I can’t spend all my time over at Lissa’s, she’ll get tired of me if I’m there too much, and I don’t exactly need that,” Maribelle replied, feeling ashamed that she’d been so bad at hiding that she wanted to be with that baby that she’d been able to be called out about it. “I’ll work on focusing more on us being together when we are and keep thoughts of that little boy far away until I’m with him again.”

“If you insist, but do know that I wouldn’t blame you in the slightest for not wanting to spend time with me, given that our friendship is built on…less than pleasant experiences.” That was very true, and Maribelle could have taken that as a cue to get out and stay away as long as she could, but she knew that Panne was merely trying to give her a way to find her happiness that she didn’t seem to be getting with her. It wasn’t spiteful, it wasn’t meant to be negative, it was just a friend looking out for her. Even with the struggles of keeping the friendship active and afloat, they tried to make it work at least once every couple of weeks, but after the turn of the year they started drifting further apart, with Maribelle focusing almost too much on spending time with Lissa and Owain.

That was just in regards to her friendships, as it was doing damage to her marriage as well as she was spending very little time at home that wasn’t merely overnight. She wasn’t actively trying to avoid being around Vaike, but it was coming off that way—and he wasn’t too bothered by it because he was worried that if they got to talking too much, they’d start covering ground that he never wanted to cross again. She was still hurting, he knew she was, but his manner of coping with their losses was a lot different than hers was and if it came to it he was certain that they’d fight over which one of them was allowed to get their way. Seeing each other as little as possible was a sad reality, but it was the easiest way to let them both live how they wanted to without hurting the other too much.

If anyone had known what was coming to tie them all back together into a giant knot, perhaps the handling of all the relationships would have been different. But no one could see the future, no one knew that something was going to happen that involved all of them in different ways, to give these strained, on the verge of breaking relationships another chance at flourishing.

It started with a call into the law office that was assigned to Maribelle, as she wasn’t actively working on a high-profile case at the moment and could take on someone’s curious questions. “I spoke to this woman a bit before transferring her to you,” the receptionist told her, his voice showing his boredom with his job. “She isn’t looking for active legal advice, but has some law questions involving children that I think a professional should answer for her, not the internet.”

“It’s usually good to let the professionals take care of these things, yes,” she agreed, waiting for him to leave the doorway of her office before she picked up the phone, giving a standard greeting to the person on the other end of the line and moving straight into the heart of the situation. “I hear that you are looking for some answers about questions involving legal matters and children? May I ask who I am speaking with before you get into asking me any of your questions?”

“Professional, aren’t we?” the flat voice on the other end of the phone replied, leaving Maribelle at a loss for how to respond. “I have one question, and would prefer you not having my personal information at this time as I have done nothing wrong and do not require further services from you.” This was where Maribelle should have kindly told the woman she was speaking with that she couldn’t assist without the exchange of information, but she was so taken aback by how she was being spoken to that she couldn’t get the words out. “All I want to know about is the legal bindings of a surrogacy agreement. I have researched it myself but I want the specifics from the mouth of a public servant who presides over cases that may or may not involve this matter.”

Knowing that she needed to say something, and fast, Maribelle cleared her throat before letting her words spill. “I’m…sorry? Surrogacy agreements aren’t exactly my area of expertise, I typically deal with the uglier sides of child law, not the happier ones.”

“Does that mean that you don’t know anything about the laws I’m asking about?”

“Well, no, I know enough, but you haven’t been specific in what you’re looking for and—” The line went dead at that moment, the power in the office surging and shutting off completely. Cursing the bad timing of the outage, Maribelle hoped that the woman who’d called would try again later and hopefully be redirected to speak with someone who dealt with those cases on a regular basis. In all her time there at the law firm, she’d never once actually had a case that involved a surrogate in any capacity, but now she was curious about what the woman was looking for in terms of “legal bindings”. Was she considering becoming a surrogate for someone, or looking into finding one for herself, and wanting to know how the law was going to handle the situation, or was there something happening that she needed legal counsel for but wasn’t sure what she needed? There were so many possibilities and unless the power came back and the lady returned her call, there were going to be no answers given.

Or so Maribelle thought, at any rate, because she was considering the situation rationally and not trying to pretend like things happened in a certain way just as happy coincidences. When the power was restored a short time later, she attempted to find the woman’s number to call her back, but the caller id memory had been erased with the power surge; there ended up being no return call, no ask for another transfer to resume the conversation that had been so rudely ended before it really started. All Maribelle had was the topic the woman was interested in, and all the woman had was Maribelle’s name, there was only one way they were going to reconnect and it required the woman giving a second call a shot.

For the rest of her day at the office, the what ifs of the situation ate at Maribelle’s mind, her curiosity rising about what had inspired the woman to be so secretive about when she called for answers for her question that went beyond just having a passing interest. It came to a head when she checked her personal phone and saw that she had not just a missed call from Panne, who usually didn’t call her unless they were planning on doing something, but one from Frederick as well. “Did something bad knock the power out and them hear about it?” she asked herself, dismissing the notifications for the calls but not returning them. “If that’s the case, they should know by now that nothing went wrong, I mean, we got power back and no cops ever showed up to investigate anything in here.”

Her ride home was spent dwelling on the woman’s question, the fact that two people she was relatively close with had called her not even mattering in the moment. She was going to have to dedicate some time to researching the laws involving surrogacy, beyond who was considered to be the parent once the child was born (which was the one aspect of it all she’d had experience with in cases), just in case the woman called again the next day still looking for answers. But if it came to that, then this was definitely not just curious questioning, there had to be actual purpose behind the topic and the delivery of the question.

It took until she was parked outside her own house for her to realize she’d actually gone home immediately after work for a change, rather than detour over to someone else’s place for a few hours. Not only that, but Vaike already seemed to be there as well, judging by the lights that were on inside the windows, and talking to him when her mind was starting to get muddled with possibilities involving this strange woman was not going to be fun. Opening the front door, she expected to at least be able to make it to the bedroom to change into something more comfortable before she was spotted, but Vaike happened to be standing right there, almost as if he was just about to leave for himself. “Maribelle, what a surprise t’see ya here! I, um, wasn’t expectin’ t’have ya get home for a while,” he said, putting a fake smile on his face as he spoke. “What’s goin’ on, why’re ya here and not elsewhere?”

“You were expecting me to go to Lissa’s tonight, weren’t you?” she asked in return, not buying his facial expression at all but also not knowing how she should question it. “Well, I think I was expecting to go over there as well, but somehow I ended up here without meaning to. Muscle memory, perhaps?” He awkwardly laughed at what she said and she scrunched her nose a bit in disdain, catching on to the fact that he was trying to get away with something that her coming home had now ruined. “Why does it look like you’re about to leave for yourself, hm?”

“That’d be, uh, because I am?” Looking down at himself and how he’d already changed out of his work clothes into something clean and fresh, Vaike laughed again, turning his attention back to Maribelle and how she was still giving him a dirty look. “What, it’s okay for you to go out and never be home, but the moment I wanna it’s some big issue?”

“No, no, it’s not an issue at all, except when I go somewhere, you know where it is I’m going. I have no earthly clue where you’re thinking about going, so where’s the fairness with that?” She was letting her face loosen, although she was still very much confused and upset as to why he thought it was necessary to try sneaking around. “You are planning on telling me where it is you’re going, right?”

He stared at her for a moment, before throwing his head back with a groan. “Who are ya, my mother? I don’t have t’tell ya anythin’ about where I’m goin’, it’s not like you’d be interested in goin’ with me anyway.”

“I never said I wanted to know because I wanted to go with you, I want to know because if something happens to go wrong while you’re there, I want to know where you are. With how things work involving either of us, it’s best to always know where the other is.” This felt like it should have been self-explanatory, but at the same time, it had been so long since she’d had to tell him anything about where she was going that it was entirely possible that he’d started to believe that he could do the same. And there had been a time where they could operate that way, but it had long since passed them by. “Please, Vaike, I am not going to stop you from going wherever it is, I’ve got no interest in going out tonight anyway.”

“What a shame, if ya wanted t’go I’m sure we’d be able t’convince Panne t’come out with us for ya, but if you’re not interested we aren’t gonna bother.” Shuffling his feet, Vaike waited for her reaction—to raise her eyebrows and tilt her head slightly to the side, looking at him with surprise rather than anger—before he said anything else. “Ya heard me right, we could invite her out if ya wanted. Some ‘a the friends wanted a nice night out for some news or whatever and Lon’qu asked if he could come when he found out, so he can ‘get to properly know some others around here’ or whatever it was he called it.”

Stifling a laugh at her husband’s attempt to mimic someone with a much more serious voice than he could ever hope to have, Maribelle went from highly suspicious of what was happening to completely accepting of it, stepping aside as to not impede progress further. “Don’t let me stop you then, if you’re doing this for Lon’qu. I’d be interested in going if I didn’t have some pressing matters on my mind, but sadly things aren’t going to work out for us tonight. Tell him I hope he has fun, and remember—“

“He doesn’t drink, ya don’t haveta remind me ‘a that. We shouldn’t even be drinkin’ too much tonight anyway, since I’ve gotta work in the mornin’, can’t really talk for everyone else goin’ though.” He smiled at her, the genuine happiness on his face enough to melt her heart and render her speechless. A feeling of letting him down flooded her after he kissed her and left, telling her he’d be home later and that she better be there waiting for him, but the emotion she was experiencing wasn’t because she intended on leaving and disregarding his one request. She could have easily pushed aside that weird question from work and taken the night to relax with her husband and friends, but for some reason she was choosing not to.

It was a few minutes after he’d left that she realized that he’d explained why Panne had called her without knowing that he’d done so. Of course she had to have called to see if she was interested in going out with the guys that night, it made sense now that she thought about it, but while it explained one of the calls, it didn’t explain Frederick’s, and that made her wonder: was he going to be out with the others as well?

The answer was no, at no point had Frederick’s name even come up in discussions about who was invited to the dinner outing. He was a relatively close friend of everyone involved (minus Lon’qu, who had met him maybe once in passing), but he wasn’t usually one to want to spend time chatting at a crowded table in a sports bar, having to yell to be heard over the roar of everyone else in the building. That was what the plan for the night had been, and when Vaike and Lon’qu showed up, having ridden over together just to make sure that there would be no drinking and driving happening, they were met by the two others that Vaike had known were going to be there, that Lon’qu did not seem impressed to see. “Ah, yes, a pair of officers that are adequate at best at their jobs,” he remarked, catching the attention of the two immediately. “Why am I not surprised? The three of you sure do have a complicated history, it only makes sense that he’d want me to know you both better.”

“Let’s leave our jobs out of this tonight, we’re here for a good time and we’re going to make sure we get it.” For sounding so confrontational, Sully seemed to be in a somewhat good mood, smiling and looking like she was happy to be where she was. “It’s been a while since we all got to kick back and do something like this, pretty sure the last time that the three of us, that being me, Stahl, and Vaike, got to come out like we are was for my birthday year before last.”

“The time you almost killed him through alcohol poisoning, how could I forget having to deal with the aftermath of that decision?” Lon’qu was also in a good mood, but it was nearly impossible to tell so because his expression and tone of voice never seemed to change too much. “At any rate, as that won’t be happening tonight with me being here, I can see this going over very well for us all.”

During that conversation, Stahl had been distracted by something on his phone, which he was in the process of tucking away now that whoever had been messaging him had been replied to. “Sorry, and I mean this, but can we make sure to get a table big enough for an extra person or two? We might have some guests join us later, if they get done with what they’re doing early enough.”

“Three extra seats, on it,” Sully said with a wink after counting out something on her fingers, Stahl meeting her with a thumbs-up that showed that they were both in on whatever was going on. As she walked away to go get them a table, Vaike and Lon’qu looked at each other, now recognizing that they had lost control of the night when it should have been mostly for the sake of one of them getting to know people better. She came back a moment later, stopping a few steps away and waving for them to follow her. “They’ve got a spot for us already, apparently they don’t get a whole bunch of large groups in here so there’s always open room or whatever.”

“How convenient, they have somewhere that we all can sit already.” Speaking as they walked, Lon’qu didn’t intend on being heard but Vaike had caught the start of his statement and was trying not to feel like he needed to force a smile at it. He was having difficulty telling if his friend was being serious or sarcastic, and he hoped that it was the former but had the worry that it was the latter. It wasn’t made any clearer when he looked straight at Lon’qu and saw him tight-lipped and unwavering in his stance on not really smiling, so he hoped for the best and hoped more that everything else would be easier to handle.

The table they received was nestled up against the shared wall with the bar, the people doing their heavy drinking on one side of the wall while they took their seats at their table on the other. “This is a lot quieter than I was thinking it’d be when we got in here,” Stahl admitted, taking a seat that put him with an empty seat on one side and two on the other. “Now I really hope they show up, it’ll give this place a bit more noise, even if it’s not much.”

“I’m sure once _someone_ decides they’re going to stop flirting with everyone at the bar, we’ll never get a quiet moment.” Standing up with her back to the chair she was expected to sit in, Sully was looking through the windowed wall to the people at the bar, her eyes following someone that no one else could make out in the crowded room. “I swear, listening to him give suggestions is the worst idea, but here we are anyway.”

“Not t’sound rude or anythin’, but who’re we holdin’ these seats for?” Vaike asked, motioning towards the two that were open between the one he’d picked and Stahl’s, several possibilities for who their other guests might be on his mind. “If it’s Maribelle and anyone, can ya please just save me the trouble of findin’ out once she’s here and tell me now? I don’t want her causin’ a scene when she comes in and I don’t know she’s comin’.”

Stahl scratched at the back of his neck, right below where his hair brushed against it. “It’s not anyone any of you really know, aside from Sully, of course. She kinda knows a lot more than she should, but that’s what happens when you live next door to someone your whole life.” He didn’t seem to be willing to talk about who he’d invited, which wasn’t too much of an issue for Vaike, who was seeing it as an opportunity to meet some new people.

However, Lon’qu was not feeling the surprise of more strangers coming to the meal, and he made sure it was known. “I agreed to come out to know the two of you better, and inviting three others that I also don’t know was not part of that agreement. Did it suddenly become okay to throw strangers into the mix every chance you’re given?”

“Calm your tits, it’s not like they’re actual strangers.” Now turning to look at the table, Sully rolled her eyes as she took her seat and grabbed one of the menus from the center caddy on the table. Before Lon’qu had a chance to tell her how he didn’t appreciate how he was being talked to, she gave him the explanation that he was looking for. “One of them’s for my date for the evening, and the other two are possibly for Stahl’s family if they can get here.”

“Are…are you telling me that you two aren’t romantically linked?” Seeing Lon’qu go through all the stages of accepting what he’d just heard made almost pushing him to the edge of anger worth it, but he was left looking for more answers than what he’d already been given. “You are always together, working together, arresting people together, and you’re telling me that there’s nothing but friendship between you?”

“Is that much of a surprise?” Stahl wasn’t bothered by the way the question was being worded, as it was something he’d grown rather used to having to answer. “We’ve known each other so long that trying to be anything but friends would be too weird. Would’ve been too weird back before either of us found love, would be weirder now.”

“Yes, okay, but I refuse to believe that you aren’t dating or connected in some way.”

The two looked at each other, Sully reaching for her phone while Stahl’s eyes widened as he thought about how they were going to explain their way out of the current situation. Since she seemed to move towards handling it through technology, that left him with having to try and put all the pieces in order. “Does it make it better or worse to know that we played wingman for each other when we got with who we’re with?”

“The only reason ya did that was ‘cause neither ‘a ya let me know you were travelin’ outta the area to go meet some dude up in Ferox,” Vaike muttered, glancing towards Lon’qu to see him even more confused about what was going on. “Wait a sec, wouldn’t Lon’qu here maybe know the guy, since he was there on law business or whatever?”

“Two things, one, he wasn’t there for legal matters in that sense, and two, the only place in Ferox he spent more than a couple hours while traveling here was there in the port city. There’s no way they’ve crossed paths there.” Setting her phone on the table once she’d finished up whatever she was doing on it, Sully tapped the top of her menu and shook her head. “There’s just no way in hell it would’ve happened. Now, if we were talking about a certain someone else…”

She turned to face Stahl, who was shaking his head much faster than she had been. “You can’t push everything back onto me like this, I know that there’s a real chance that Lon’qu has met Olivia before but I—”

“The name is most likely more common than you think, but I did know an Olivia back before moving here for my position.” Leaning back in his chair, Lon’qu thought for a moment before sighing. “Sweet girl, very shy but stayed out of the way and kept out of my hair whenever she was around. She worked for one of the guys I worked with, did some dancing thing on the side to make ends meet, wasn’t much to write home about.” He stopped talking only when he noticed that Stahl’s lower jaw had dropped, his stare laser-focused on his face. “Did I misspeak? Are we judging me for talking about another woman like this when I’m married? Why the harsh expression?”

“I think we might be talking about the same woman,” Stahl replied, once again scratching at his neck. “I met her online so I didn’t know her exact backstory when we first got to see each other in person, but she was super shy and kept her distance until we got closer. Er, close enough to convince her to move here to Ylisstol to live with me, anyway. From there everything just kind of…fell together, you know?”

Something about what he was hearing was not sitting well with Lon’qu, but he didn’t seem to address it when he spoke again. “I fell out of touch with her when Panne and I moved here, but if you’re indeed talking about the Olivia I knew and she’s your _wife_ now, I expect some answers if she joins us.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll mention it’s you that we’re out with and if she’s the one that you know, I’m sure that means she’ll really want to come out to see all of us. She isn’t usually a people person and that’s why we’ve kind of kept our whole relationship away from everyone, just so that she’s comfortable where she is.” Now Stahl was getting his phone again, but rather than send messages he actually got up and started to make a call, walking away from the table before it started.

With only three of the potentially seven people present at the table, that was when a server came by and started taking orders, the conversation not continuing on until there were drinks on the table and Stahl was back in his seat. “So anyway, now that we’ve gotten the whole Olivia thing potentially taken care of,” Lon’qu said, disbelief in his voice and zero attention given to Stahl as he spoke, “when are we going to get explanation for who the third chair is saved for? Is it a second lover that you haven’t mentioned before now?”

“Ha, d’ya really think that he’d be capable of havin’ a second lover?” Vaike was on the verge of laughing at how absurd of a suggestion that was, before he realized something very important about what had just happened. “I mean, I didn’t even know that he had one until right now, so maybe he could, but I dunno, that’s kinda something huge t’hide from everyone. It can’t be that.”

Also about to laugh, Sully reached over and gave Stahl a firm pat on the back, causing him to nearly jump out of his seat from her forceful hit. “You go right on ahead and tell them what you’ve done, somehow this has gotten more fun than you thought it was going to be, and you were talking about how much fun you’d have confusing Vaike.” She hit him again, this time with a bit less force. “Get the whole damn story out there, before he gets here and we get from talking about you because he wants to be center of attention.”

“Right, I’ve just got to explain that before we forget about it.” Taking a deep breath and wincing slightly, as doing so irritated where he’d just been pounded on, Stahl put his hands on the table and looked between the two men who had no idea what was going on. “The other seat I’ve got saved is in case Olivia comes as well, because if she shows up, then she’ll be bringing our son with her and…well, he needs somewhere to sit, don’t you think?”

“Your _what_?” Vaike’s question was asked as he stood up, leaning over the table to get closer to Stahl as he waited for whatever answer was coming. “How have ya never bothered t’mention that part t’me before now? You’ve got a kid and none of us knew about it?”

“I wouldn’t say none of you knew, Sully knew the whole time but kept her mouth shut because she knew I didn’t want everyone knowing until Olivia and I wanted to talk about it. A lot happened all at once and we didn’t want to get too many people up in our business before we were ready!” Putting his hands up defensively, Stahl got another pat on the back, this one a lot more gentle than the previous two, and his response was enough to get Vaike to calm down and sit back in his seat. “I’m sorry that I hadn’t said anything about it, but really? It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“The Olivia I knew wouldn’t go around having children with strangers she’d met online,” Lon’qu said, voice muffled by how he had his hand over his mouth. “But then again, it has been years since I last heard from her.”

The server approached them again, bringing with a couple plates of appetizer food that had been ordered for the whole table, and the next few minutes were spent discussing food, drinks, and the way the meal itself was going to work. They were just about ready to start placing orders for actual entrees when a new voice entered the fray, slightly masculine, incredibly foreign-accented, and dripping with slurred syllables as it continued. “So this is where you ended up sitting, Catie my dear! Why not join me in the bar, at least in there we know you won’t associating yourself with riffraff!”

At the same time Lon’qu was looking around, asking, “Who’s this guy trying to get the attention of with that?” Vaike was putting his attention on Sully, watching her face start to turn red in anger at what she’d just heard. He nudged Lon’qu to get him to look where he was looking, and together they watched as she stood up, slammed her chair in, and walked around the table to confront a rather ordinary-looking man standing a few feet behind them. Without saying anything to him, she grabbed his arm and dragged him back towards the front of the dining area, and they both assumed that there was not going to be anything more to what had happened than what they saw.

Hearing her yell something about how under no circumstances should she ever be addressed in such a way in public told them that they were quite mistaken, and when she and the strange man came back not long after that, her still angry and him quite confused, they were figuring out that this was the guy she’d been talking about, but didn’t mention it until the server had excused themselves with as much of the order as they were able to get. “Are ya gonna introduce us t’your friend here, Sully?” Vaike asked, making absolute sure he referred to her the correct way. “Or is it gonna be up t’him t’do it?”

“I’m not introducing him until he apologizes for calling me that damn name,” she spat in reply, taking her seat with the man sitting right in between her and Stahl within seconds. “So go on, say you’re sorry for saying that and then we can get on with our lives.”

His attempt at an apology involved grabbing her arm and kissing it, starting at her hand and moving up it until he was at the edge of her sleeve, his words slightly less slurred than they were before but still spoken in an accent that was starting to become more pretentious than foreign to everyone’s ears. “I’m so sorry, my sweet, it was uncalled for to use such an adorable pet-name for you in the presence of your professional colleagues and other friends. May I have your forgiveness, forever and for always?”

While she considered whether to accept or deny the apology, Lon’qu was looking at the man closer, trying to see past his flushed cheeks and stringy hair to tell if he recognized him. “I would never forget hearing such flowery language even if I tried to, and believe me, I have tried every day since I first heard it,” he said, eyes looking over every inch of the strange man that he had available to him. “There’s no doubt in my mind, you have to be that royal bastard from Rosanne, the one who came to my bosses in Ferox looking for support back when—back before—oh gods, I have no idea how to even explain what you were looking for from us.”

“Do me a favor and refuse to speak of it, then, the me you met during that time was nowhere near the man I am now.” Dropping Sully’s arm and losing interest in if she was going to introduce him or not, the man locked eyes with Lon’qu and smiled at him, while he got a narrowed gaze in return. “You know what that was all about, legality and correctness and whatnot, but it is irrelevant now that we’re all here in this fair city, dining with the people that we care most about.”

“Wouldn’t say that I care most about everyone here when my wife isn’t present, but what would I expect from a man who fled from his position because his people were no longer accepting of him? At least, that is the last version I heard of your tale, mister Virion.” Bowing his head in some forced expression of respect, Lon’qu perked right back up with his eyes still narrowed, seeing Virion beaming at the way he was being treated. “Care to explain how you’ve ended up in some relationship with a Ylissean woman, when you should have stayed trying to keep your region under control?”

“The noble and esteemed Virion does not share his backstory with those who intend on judging him for it,” he replied, turning his nose up at the idea. Just from that one glimpse of who this man was, Vaike had a feeling that he and Maribelle would get along rather well, with their prissy attitudes, but he was thankful she wasn’t there to be chewing him out for having already tried dominating the dinner with his behavior. He was considering letting Lon’qu in on what he’d thought, but as he’d leaned in to tell him what was on his mind, Virion gave a snap in his direction, causing him to shoot back up and stare straight at him. “You, you’re the only one here I have yet to have the chance to meet, whether through fate or through someone else’s friendship. Who are you?”

“What did I tell you, you can’t be treating my friends like they’re below you,” Sully chided, pulling Virion’s arm back so that he couldn’t keep snapping at Vaike, who was starting to glare at him, not liking being given dog-like treatment. “Besides, I’ve told you about him, that’s the one I got a bit rough with when arresting him one time.”

Virion grimaced at the mention of someone sitting at the same table as him being arrested, which made Vaike assume that he was thinking that he wasn’t more than a criminal. “I didn’t do anythin’ wrong, they were tricked into arrestin’ me just ‘cause some asshole didn’t have the money to pay for the work I was doin’ for him,” he explained, hoping that his defense of that incident would sound believable to someone who’d already started thinking it had much different circumstances. “I’m not a bad guy, not even a li’l bit.”

“You speak like you never made it through a proper education, but I suppose that judging you based on that is just as unwanted as judging you based on your criminal record.” The smug, almost punch-worthy smile that Virion had on his face after speaking was more irritating than anything he’d said, and if they weren’t sitting at a table with two police officers and a high official from the jail, Vaike most likely would have jumped across and throttled him for it. But he couldn’t, that was something he’d have to resist doing as long as he could. “Oh, what’s the matter, are you getting upset with me?”

“Antagonizing him to get him to lash out is highly frowned upon.” Lon’qu was the first to step in to prevent anything from happening, although Sully was right there as well, grumbling about how this was why she hadn’t bothered staging this kind of meeting before then. “Yes, blaming yourself for being attracted to a coward and a runaway from his position, that’s exactly what you should be doing right now. If you actually cared, you’d blame him for what he’s doing, instead of what you’re actually doing.”

“Do you think I care what you have to say about this? He’s his own man, I can’t control whatever it is he’s doing, I’m just sorry that I decided that three years was enough time for him to get how to interact with friends through his head.” To prove her displeasure with what had happened, Sully gave Virion a hard punch in the arm, making him yelp in pain and beg for no more hits, because he was going to bruise easily. “Good, if you bruise you’ll maybe learn how to talk to people.”

“No, if I bruise then we’ll get questions about the nature of our relationship, and then we…” His voice trailing off as he realized he’d been distracted from what he’d originally been doing, Virion looked across at Vaike and gave him a sheepish smile. “Oh, sorry, I should apologize to you for my ‘rude’ behavior, if that’s what you want to call it. Shall we start over, try to build a relationship from the ground up?”

Not one to usually forgive fast, although he did tend to forget why he wasn’t fond of people if he wasn’t constantly reminded of it, Vaike shrugged the suggestion off. “Nah, we’ll just see where it goes after this. Maybe if I’m lucky this’ll be the only time I ever haveta see ya, ‘cause Sully’ll smarten up and leave ya.”

“There’s no chance of her leaving, not at this point.” Virion was lucky he couldn’t see her mocking his every word, rocking side to side and pretending to speak when he was, but everyone else was able to watch it as it happened. “We have big plans, very important, that we are in the process of getting all put together. You may know what it’s like to piece your life together after years of trying, but that may be expecting too much from you.”

“Hey now, you’re just goin’ right below the belt with these comments, ain’t ya? Why can’t ya be nice t’someone ya just met?” Starting to wish he hadn’t made these plans, that he hadn’t wanted to help Lon’qu branch out his personal life with getting to know some of his friends better, that he hadn’t turned away when it became clear everyone else there was going to drop some news on their group, Vaike moved his chair back slightly and made the motions to stand up, but Lon’qu putting a hand on his leg stopped him.

“If you leave, I will leave as well, and then we’ve let this man ruin the night for both of us. Stay, together we can get through to him that you deserve the respect that you should be receiving from everyone.” Lon’qu didn’t lift his hand until Vaike had sighed and said that he would stay just for that reason, which came in time with the server coming back over to get drink refills and see that most of the appetizers that had been delivered hadn’t been touched, even after everyone had talked about eating them, but one plate in particular was emptied and ready for removal. Because of that, the server asked everyone if everything was okay, and the answer had to be that it was, they’d just gotten into a deep, heated conversation; that was an acceptable answer, apparently, and he told them that their meals would all be out shortly, if they still wanted them.

“See, this is what happens when people start fighting, the waitstaff starts thinking that we don’t want our food,” Stahl said after the server was assured that everyone would still be eating, walking away to go back to the kitchen. “Can you imagine if they cancelled our food just because you all started yelling at each other? I’d be heartbroken!”

From that point on in the meal, they all tried to stay at least moderately civil with each other, so that the staff wouldn’t assume that they weren’t going to stay for the duration of the evening. It was at some point after the entrees had been delivered (and people realized that they hadn’t been part of the ordering process but still had managed to get food for themselves) that someone else approached the table, carrying in her arms a young boy that couldn’t have been more than two years old. “I’m not too late to join you all, am I?” the woman asked, her voice incredibly soft as she spoke. “We just finished at swim practice and I was really hoping we wouldn’t be too late.”

“You _are_ the Olivia I worked alongside,” Lon’qu replied, not answering her question but getting to his feet and moving to approach her, her gasping in shock at someone unexpected saying her name. “What a small world we live in, for you to be here so far from where we both first met. Here, let me—” He went to pull out one of the chairs that had been left for her, but was beaten to it by Stahl, who despite having one hand in a constant state of shoveling food into his mouth was still able to be a gentleman. “—er, never mind, I suppose. It’s good to see you, at any rate.”

“I can say the same to you, Lon’qu.” Olivia’s smile seemed hesitant and she wasn’t fully enjoying the crowd of people she’d walked herself into, but after she’d set the boy in her arms down and taken the other seat for herself, she looked at everyone who was gathered there and giggled. “Maybe showing up late wasn’t such a bad idea after all, I must have missed whatever fireworks happened from Virion drinking, he sure does like arguing with everyone once he’s drunk.”

“We really are the outsiders in my own group ‘a friends,” Vaike said under his breath, Lon’qu hearing him as he took his seat once more. “All ‘a them know each other and knew what was goin’ on, but me? I didn’t know anythin’ at all. What does that say ‘bout me, huh?”

Lon’qu was still looking at Olivia and the boy she’d brought with her, how he was sitting on the edge of his seat closest to Stahl and trying to get something from him. “It says that you’re a friend worth keeping out of the drama this bunch attracts, I’m sure. Can you imagine if you’d involved Maribelle in this mess, or if I’d chosen to bring Panne along? It would be nothing short of a nightmare at that point.”

He knew that he’d heard the truth, but Vaike couldn’t help but wonder what would have really happened if Maribelle had been there with him. She’d have set people straight, fought on his behalf if he let her, made solving the problems that much harder, but she would have been someone for him to be with that wasn’t just a friend. When he got home that night, after the goodbyes, the “nice to get to meet you” exchanges, and the promises that they’d have another outing like that in the near future, he saw that Maribelle was still awake, pouring over one of her old law textbooks that she’d kept around for some reason. He wanted to ask her what was going on, why she was looking through it so intently, but he kept his mouth shut and took himself to the bedroom without interrupting her.

She did join him in the bedroom after a few minutes to ask him how his night went, and he painted it in the most positive way he possibly could, but he never asked her the same, not wanting to dive into that topic if she wasn’t openly discussing it. “Next time you hang out with all of them, let me know, if there’s significant others I need to meet I’d like to do it as soon as possible,” she said, sounding like her mind was places other than their conversation. “I mean, you just told me that Stahl, who we’ve both known for a long time, has a kid, and Sully’s got herself some jerk of a boyfriend, there’s a lot I’ve missed here.”  
“Trust me, I’d missed it all too until tonight, for whatever reasons it was they gave. Kinda stupid, not tellin’ people ‘bout huge life things like that, but we’re not gonna judge ‘em for any of it.” He hadn’t been intending on making any pointed references there but Maribelle took what he said as one, her eyes going wide and starting to tear up before she turned and left the room, causing him to be alone once more. Cursing the fact that he didn’t mean to upset her, he knew that chasing her down would only make things worse, so he set himself up for bed without any intent on fixing what had gone wrong.

The way he saw it, there was always time to fix what had gone wrong in the morning when he woke up for work, as she was much easier to talk to and cheer up when she’d just been woken up by his alarm going off.

* * *

There was a large flaw in Vaike’s plan that he didn’t account for, that being Maribelle never coming to sleep in the bedroom that night. She didn’t intend to sleep on the couch, and thankfully there’d been no instance of alcohol fueling her decision to do so, but she’d been reading up on the laws she’d been questioned about and had gotten sidetracked so hard that she fell asleep mid-sentence. Then, before it was even time for her husband to be waking up, she was called by someone who’d tried getting to talk to her the day before, Frederick apologizing for the early hour but wanting to get everything in order before they were both at work for the day.

It shouldn’t have felt like she was being secretive, but she didn’t want to disturb Vaike before she left, so her sneaking in and out of the bedroom as she changed into a new outfit for the meeting was done under the reminder that she was just letting him sleep. They’d agreed to meet at a little coffeeshop downtown, one that she knew wasn’t going to be busy and would have someone she hadn’t seen in a long time working anyway, and the whole ride there she was telling herself that this was all professional, that there was nothing bad happening, even though it was just after dawn it was completely innocent and the only reason Vaike didn’t know was because he was asleep. She’d just fill him in on everything she needed to once they were both home that evening.

As was expected, there were no cars in sight outside the café when she got there, and she went to make sure the door was unlocked so she could get in. Miriel was standing on the other side, opening the door when she recognized who was approaching her. “What a strange time for you, of all people, to find yourself here,” she said once the door had closed and she and Maribelle were both standing inside. “You must be here for some reason, perhaps to do with any case I’ve had a hand in lately? There have been several of them that you have not been involved with, much to my surprise.”

“Nothing to do with any of your cases, or really with any of my own. I’ve been asked to meet up to discuss something that someone I know has gotten involved in, and I figured, why not meet him here? It means I get to see you and see how your work’s going.” Maribelle smiled at her, hoping that what she said was convincing enough to seem true, because even though it _was_ the truth she was having a hard time believing herself. “So, while I wait for him to get here, how are things?”

“Typical, the shelter is currently housing more children than normal and keeping them all satisfied while they wait to be moved out is proving itself more difficult than Libra and I had anticipated. He’s already awake, working to get them all a solid breakfast made before they are arguing for food.” Tapping her fingers together as she walked to behind the counter, Miriel turned to face Maribelle once she was at the register and stared at her. “Now, since you’re here, will you be purchasing anything to enjoy while you wait? Remember, all purchases do go to helping us with the children.”

She hadn’t intended to buy anything when she’d picked this place to meet up, but with that out in the open Maribelle felt like she didn’t have much of a choice but to get something to drink while she waited for Frederick. Miriel was quick in taking her order, and while she waited for it to be made she went to sit herself at the corner table. After a few minutes, her drink was brought over to her and Miriel took the open seat, sitting with her arms crossed on the table in front of her. “You really don’t get much business in this place, do you?” she asked, hoping her question wouldn’t turn into a long-winded conversation that she’d regret starting right then.

Instead, what she got was a firm shake of the head and a short explanation of the situation: “We get enough business to provide a few treats a week to the children, but beyond that everything is out of our pockets or provided through us reminding the city that we are aiding children that they’ve let slip between the cracks.” Her fingers tapping against her arms as she thought about what else there was to say about her current position, Miriel watched as Maribelle looked around, mumbling to herself about how it wasn’t right for children in need to be treated like that. “That’s what Libra and I have been arguing for months now, ever since that high-profile case was terminated due to a lack of defense.”

“The press wouldn’t leave that one alone while you were working on it, I remember that.” It wasn’t the only memory that Maribelle had of that case—that was the same one that was being researched the time she’d heard about her being in the jail, although in its much earlier stages. “I still can’t believe they forced the children to return to their family, even after you were able to prove without any doubt that they were being abused. From what I saw, they were much happier in your care than they’d been anywhere else.”

“Not only that, but the older boy insisted that there were more children to be aware of than the ones I’d ended up with. How they’d managed to arrive in Ylisstol without more harm befalling them than what already had is a blessing, but the fact that they were shipped back to their ‘proper’ home still haunts me.” Miriel sighed, shaking her head again and looking towards the door, ignoring Maribelle’s presence for a moment. “If my room gets quiet enough, I can almost hear the youngest girl’s voice attempting to ask me if she can get in the bed and keep warm next to me, despite it never getting cold while they were here.”

Knowing all too well how much cases could impact one’s mind after they were finished, Maribelle had wanted to express her understanding but wasn’t sure how she should have in that moment. The case had been forced to end when the authorities from the children’s home country got involved, claiming that any Ylissean defense would be incorrect because of outdated paperwork, and that because the children had run away without the knowledge of any guardians, they needed to be returned home promptly. It had escalated from a simple case of trying to bring the children’s parental figure to justice to a fight involving two different countries, and the Ylissean higher-up deemed it unnecessary to continue as there was no solid proof the kids had been abused by their parent after all.

“I think you did the right thing, fighting for them up until they were ripped from your hands,” she finally said, her thoughts getting muddled with memories of cases she’d been personally involved in that still impacted her daily. “We can’t win every case we take on, and it’s always hard when you get attached to the kids, but you never stopped fighting for them until there was nothing left to do.”

“Incidents such as that are why I wish to never have children of my own,” Miriel admitted, pushing herself up off the table and going back to stand at the counter. “The world proves itself far too cruel to the children already in it to convince me to have my own, I’ll gladly spend the rest of my days protecting those who already need the assistance.”

Nodding as she sipped from her drink, there were so many things that Maribelle felt like she could have said to counter Miriel’s stance, but she didn’t want to start an argument. She was there for a reason she didn’t fully understand, she had no business getting involved in something else that would get her heated and angry (most likely) before getting dragged into whatever Frederick’s deal was. But at the same time, letting their conversation end on the note that one shouldn’t have their own children just because there were kids in need in the world felt wrong to her. She loved children, she’d dedicated her life to defending them whenever bad things befell them, but she still wanted to have her own family at some point, if it ever became possible for her to do so. The negative in the world wasn’t going to prevent her from doing what she wanted given the chance to do it.

That was what she dwelled on as she sat there, waiting for the person she was meeting to stroll in exactly at the time they’d agreed to meet there at, almost down to the second. “I would have arrived earlier if I had known there was parking for the shop directly out front, I’m parked down the street,” Frederick explained with an apologetic tone, after walking in and waving a friendly hello to Miriel before taking his seat across from Maribelle. “This is easily the most fitting place to have this conversation, just so you’re aware. Truly embodies the tone of what I need to speak to you about.”

“You mean, you know that this café’s just a cover for—”

“The shelter? Yes, that’s why I was familiar with parking as if I was going there, usually when I end up in here it’s through the interior door.” The way Frederick spoke was as if what he was saying was common knowledge, but Maribelle hadn’t had the slightest of clues that he’d come into the café before right then. “I’ve organized and provided many things for this place, it’s just not every day that I’m here on personal business. Although…I suppose I should say that the business isn’t personal for _me_.”

That news made took a bit of a weight off of Maribelle’s chest, as she’d begun to worry that maybe she was going to be dipping her toes into some affairs of her best friend’s husband that she needed to be sworn to secrecy about. “Okay, that’s fair, why are you the one who’s having to do the talking then? Why not have the person it’s for do it?”

“That would be because the person this is for, or more specifically the people, wish to remain anonymous until they know all of their options and avenues they have available to them.” The thought of the woman on the phone the day before, with her insistence on keeping her name unknown despite looking for information, was the first and only thing to come to Maribelle’s mind in the moment, but she didn’t dare bring it up, thinking that there was no way it could be connected. “I’ve only spoken with one of the people involved myself, he actually approached me after overhearing a discussion I had with Chrom about you and your position in a recent case that we’d read about.”

“You were talking about me where people could actually hear it? There’s your mistake, ha.” Taking another sip from her drink, Maribelle expected to get Frederick to laugh with her comment but he remained silent, waiting for her to set her cup down to continue.

Once she had, he was back to talking as if she hadn’t said a thing. “He and his wife are interested in starting a family, but due to physical limitations and work commitments neither of them are actually able to do it themselves, and as we were discussing you working the law regarding children he was curious to know if you would be willing to assist them in understanding the legal pros and cons to all of their possibilities. However, as I already said, he wants to remain anonymous until they’ve been given their options and know what they can and cannot do in their current situation.”

“That sounds like he’s trying to do some sneaky stuff to skirt around the law, if he wants my time and advice but refuses to let me know anything about him.” Maribelle scrunched her mouth to the side as she thought about how to proceed, debating with herself whether it was worth going through the headache of having anonymous contact with someone if they had a lot of questions they needed answered. “When will you see this guy again, do you think? Was he someone at the hospital, or were you and Chrom working elsewhere?”

“I was in the process of re-filing paperwork for him when we had the conversation, Chrom was at my office having a meeting with me when the other man came in. Not to say this man is a stranger, of course, but he isn’t someone I’m particularly familiar with. Our paths have crossed many times when he comes in and out of my workplace, and that’s about the extent of how I know him.” Frederick seemed to understand that Maribelle had asked him that specific question because she was considering giving this guy the legal help he was looking for, without either of them having actually stated that as fact. “Shall I give him your work number? Personal number? Some other way to contact you?”

“Give him the number for my receptionist, tell him to ask for me with your name and credentials if anyone asks him who he is, I’ll know right away that he isn’t you when I pick up the line.” Glancing at her drink, seeing it to be half-full still, Maribelle looked back across the table at Frederick as he was writing the instructions she’d given down on a scrap of paper he’d pulled from his pocket. “What, was that too hard for you to remember?”

He laughed, finishing what he was writing and tucking the paper back where it’d come from. “No, quite the opposite if we’re being honest. I wanted to have it written to prove to you that it was what you’d said to me, if you decided to kick up a fuss about this later. I know your games all too well, Maribelle, I know how you can forget an agreement you’ve made in an instant if your mind is other places.”

“And you can tell I’m thinking about other things just looking at me, can’t you?” When his laughter didn’t subside, she knew that he had done just that. “Sorry, it’s just that talking about a person calling me without telling me who they are is making me wonder what happened to the woman that did that to me yesterday. Calling, asking about surrogacy laws, refusing to tell me who she was, it was one of the strangest things I’ve experienced there the whole time I’ve been doing this job.”

“Don’t let it get to you too much, you’re merely helping people who have questions with the law that you love. Even if they go about it in unconventional ways, they still need the assistance only you can provide.” Patting his pocket, Frederick got out of his chair and came around the table to give Maribelle a hug, thanking her and wishing her good luck on what she was going to do in a whisper before backing away and turning to go talk to Miriel, as she stood behind the counter once more. It was while they were talking that Maribelle chose to leave, finishing off her drink and leaving the empty cup on the table to give her friend something to do.

When she was opening the door to let herself out, she heard what sounded like someone knocking on the counter, but turning around to check on the two people in the café still resulted in her seeing them still deep in conversation. Chalking up what she’d heard to being some kind of city noise she hadn’t been expecting, she went on her way, going straight to her car and heading to work from there. It was while on the ride to her office that Panne called her once again, but because she was driving and was so close to where she worked she chose not to answer it, expecting to get some kind of voicemail to explain what was going on. It usually didn’t happen to miss two calls in two days from someone so typically secretive unless they were together in person, and when she arrived at the office without any messages she decided not to dwell on it.

From the moment she got to her desk that morning, it was obvious that there was something going on away from her office that needed her presence. Even though she’d gotten there at the same time as she did every day, the receptionist had covered her work computer with sticky notes of all sorts of calls she needed to return, cases she needed to check on, and a big notification that she needed to go over to the pediatric wing as soon as possible, as long as all her other work was done beforehand. “What in Naga’s name is happening right now, this is simply ridiculous,” she muttered to herself, before starting to clear away notes as she began work on the tasks.

She was thankful that nothing she was being asked to do was too difficult, but when it came to clearing the last note she realized that she was being given an opportunity to speak with Panne about what she needed from her while still being paid for it. After making sure that everything else was taken care of, and leaving a message with the receptionist to forward any calls for her to her personal number, if they were urgent matters, she hopped back in her car and drove across town to the hospital, only noticing once she was there that it was still before noon. All of this strange stuff had happened already and it wasn’t even lunchtime, that was insane to wrap her mind around.

There wasn’t really time _to_ try grasping the fact that so much was going on that morning that needed further explanation, not when she’d been pushed to get to the hospital without any real knowledge of why it was. Making matters worse was the fact that, when she arrived fully expecting to see Panne waiting for her to get there, she learned that her getting called by her friend was completely unrelated to whatever had been called into her work before she’d gotten there. “I had called you to check and make sure that Vaike was okay, on behalf of Lon’qu. I don’t exactly know what happened last night, but something went down that was rather troublesome, if I’ve understood the retelling right,” Panne explained after Maribelle had burst into her office, ready to handle whatever issue was taking place. “My apologies if you came here for anything more exciting than this, but I just arrived and had wanted to get that settled before it escaped my mind.”

“You mean you had nothing to do with the big, bold note on my computer telling me to get here as soon as I could?” she asked in response, catching her breath after having basically ran from her car to the offices in the pediatric wing of the hospital. “What is going on around here then, if you weren’t the one wanting me to get here?”

“I wish I could tell you, but maybe we could go discover whatever it is together?” Pulling her professional jacket up onto her shoulders and making it look proper, Panne smiled at Maribelle and headed to the door with her right on her heels. “As I said, I just arrived for the day and it seems that everything is a bit out of sorts for everyone, myself included. I was woken up this morning by Lon’qu telling me a shortened version of what had happened last night, which he concluded by asking me to check on Vaike for him, something I did try to do but seemed to have messed up in attempting.”

Maribelle knew that she was referencing the fact that she’d ran across the hospital because she’d thought something was going on, but she felt wrong allowing for Panne to blame herself for that. “What was messed up about it was the cryptic message that whoever called my office forced upon me, you were just trying to be a good friend and wife. I don’t blame you for crossing wires in my mind, they were bound to get crossed at this point.”

“Well, good, it isn’t a typical thing for me to care too much about anyone, outside of those who really matter to me. Your husband, he doesn’t matter as much to me as _you_ do, and I recognize that something upsetting him would upset you in turn, and I never want to see my dear friend hurting.” She stopped speaking as they got to the main floor of the wing, nurses and doctors bustling around, the building a hotspot of activity despite its relatively early hour. “I’m still at quite a loss as to what’s going on here, which makes leading you to whatever patient summoned you in specific here much more difficult. Would you mind if I took a moment to get myself caught up to speed with everyone here?”

It wasn’t much of an inconvenience, especially when Maribelle needed to know what was going on as well, so that she could figure out where it was that she needed to be there. Now that she knew it wasn’t Panne who’d requested her presence, she was starting to grow fearful of what was happening, assuming the worse but hoping for the best. There had to be some kind of incident involving a child that had been discovered by one of the floor nurses, or it could have been a parent wanting to call in a lawyer for a consultation about an event, but anything other than those options shouldn’t have resulted in her being called out there. As far as she was aware, she had zero clients currently receiving care, and while it was possible someone could have ended up there overnight the call informing her of that would have had actual information attached.

Panne came back to join her at the start of the hall, shaking her head as she approached. “It seems that there’s been a spike in injuries due to the change in weather, children getting reckless and harming themselves without meaning to,” she told Maribelle, before motioning up towards the ceiling. “The person who’d placed in a request to have you come make a visit is on the top floor, which means that she has been here since at least yesterday.”

“If she’s been here overnight, why would she call me today?” Connections were beginning to be made in Maribelle’s mind, as she considered the possibility that this woman who wanted to speak to her now was the same woman she’d talked to yesterday, the one who’d been so secretive and refused to give her name. “There’s only one explanation, and that’s that she wants to talk to me about things that I have no say in.”

“I cannot confirm or deny that, I just know which room she’s in. Shall I take you up there?” She could tell that Panne did not, in fact, want to do what had been offered, but was merely offering it out of respect, so when she turned her down and said that she’d just handle it over the phone, it came as a surprise. “But you came here already, why not see whatever it is this woman’s expecting of you? Don’t you want to know?”

“Not really, if it’s the lady from yesterday calling me about things I spent all night researching because it’s not something I deal with, she can just call me again later. I’m going to go back to my car, back to my office, and sit and think about how stupid this all is.” With a smile and a quick hug shared between the friends, she went on her way, leaving Panne to get things in order at her job while she went back to her own. Once she was back, the receptionist asked her how the meeting went and she ignored him as she walked past him, not wanting to hear him making comments about the kind of meeting she was supposed to have gone to. Her office was exactly as it was when she’d left it, with the sole sticky note remaining on the computer; she pulled it off, balled it up, and threw it in the trash, never wanting to think of it again.

Whatever it was that the woman wanted, she didn’t call back again that day, or even that week, and Maribelle wrote it off as being more of a prank than anything else. It was too strange, too weird to be something that actually mattered, and now that she’d wasted so much time over the course of a day on it she needed to go back to focusing on things she cared about.

* * *

Within three days in mid-July there were two important events that came back-to-back, completely unintentionally but forced to be positioned that way for all of eternity. The earlier event, important in Maribelle’s mind and something that she’d been helping in planning for weeks before it, was the first birthday of her favorite child in the world; the event two days later, which was a passing thought in her mind but weighed heavily on Vaike’s, was their fifth wedding anniversary. He wanted to do something special for the occasion, but he couldn’t get in a word about it without Maribelle talking about how she was helping Lissa with something, or how she was so excited to see little Owain on his birthday, or something else that related back to the little boy. Planning something without anyone else’s help wasn’t exactly one of his strong suits, but if he was going to do something to mark five whole years of them being married, it was going to be on his shoulders.

Or, he could go to the people that would have had experience trying to come up with anniversary celebrations as well and ask them for any advice. What came of that was being told to do things he’d already done, going on expensive trips, seeing shows, things that he didn’t think would be good enough for such a momentous occasion. As the day drew closer, he came to terms with the fact that if anything was going to happen, he was going to have to get Maribelle in on it, and that meant that he’d have to wait until after she was done gushing about her excitement for the birthday party to get her opinion on what to do.

The day of the party was ridiculously warm, which already spelled trouble for the plan that Lissa and Maribelle had come up with together; there was no realistic way to get everyone to be comfortable out at a park when the sun was overhead beating down on them, and with how many people had been invited it was going to be hard to fit them all in the closest house they could use near the park. “What do we do, everyone’ll complain and it’ll be horrible if we try sticking it out,” Lissa whined, grabbing the sides of her head and crinkling her hair underneath her fingers. “But if we tell everyone the plan’s changed, they’ll still complain and it’ll be just as horrible!”

“Calm down, Lissa, you’re overreacting as usual. No one should be at the meeting spot yet, we can easily change the plan right this minute and get the word out to everyone as fast as we can to meet somewhere else, that way they have no right to complain.” In her mind, Maribelle was coming up with all sorts of different possibilities of where they could move the party to, and the one that kept popping up every time she turned one down was to take it to her own house. That wasn’t realistic and she knew it, but it was the one thing she kept coming back to, and she was just about to finally give in and suggest it despite knowing it wasn’t going to work when a better idea struck her. “I happen to know somewhere that we could move the party to, but it relies on one small thing.”

“What’s the small thing?” Lissa watched as Maribelle grabbed her phone and pulled up a contact within it, showing her friend the screen and making her rapidly shake her head in response. “Oh no, you’re not getting me to do anything involving _her_ , I’m not going to let her ruin my baby’s day, you understand me?”

“I don’t know why you think she’ll ruin anything, if it’s because you think she’ll spend her time talking to me that’s just being selfish, you’re allowed to have other close friends and I’m not able to complain about you spending time with them.” Even though she could see Lissa’s face reddening in anger at what she’d just told her, Maribelle knew that there was exactly one shot to fix the problem they’d encountered, and if they were going to take it that meant they needed to call Panne and ask her if she could help them out. She knew that Panne’s neighborhood had a nice park with a large gazebo in the middle of it, and it was within walking distance of her house so if they needed to go inside somewhere they had that option, but getting this to work required Panne and Lissa tolerating each other in her presence for one single afternoon.

Without allowing for Lissa to give any sort of argument for why they couldn’t try it out, Maribelle was already calling Panne, hoping she’d answer right away. The call went to voicemail, which was basically predicted given how spotty contact on the first try was between them, and rather than accept that as the final answer she tried again, getting through after a couple rings. Panne was willing to listen to the idea but was clearly not on-board with any of it once she knew that it was being done for Lissa’s sake, but when Maribelle reminded her that it was being done for a child she changed her mind and gave in to the demands. “I will go over there right now and stake a claim on the gazebo, if you want to give everyone directions here. Just don’t expect me to hang around once she arrives, if she’s going to continue her rude behavior towards me.”

“I’ve literally never seen her be rude to you, she’s just uncomfortable with how close we are as friends because she feels that you being my friend takes away from her being my friend.” Completely aware that she was saying this right next to Lissa, who could hear her half of the conversation and nothing more, Maribelle gave a long sigh before nodding. “But I can accept your request, I’ll start telling people the directions to your house and tell them to walk to the park unless they absolutely need to start right nearby.”

“If I’ve understood you correctly this is a party for a young child, just how many people are you expecting to have show up?” Panne asked, a question that Maribelle hung up on, leaving it unanswered. She sighed when she wasn’t given a concrete answer, looking around her living room at how empty the house was as she was there alone, before getting up off the floor and walking towards the front door. “Maribelle will owe me for this, somehow. I don’t understand why she needs me, of all people, to assist in this process but I’ll do it just because I care about her.”

When she opened the door, Lon’qu was out in the yard, looking half-awake as he worked on fixing something along the front of the house. He acknowledged that she was coming outside, but when she didn’t stand right at the door and instead headed out to the sidewalk he stopped what he was doing and began to follow her, confused. “Where do you think you’re going? Aren’t we waiting on someone to come over?”

“You are more than welcome to remain waiting for him, as you’re the one who’s supposed to be helping him come up with his plans. I, meanwhile, will be assisting his wife with something that she just asked me about.” Her response was enough to get him to pause in following her, before shrugging as he realized she wasn’t going to be stopped just by getting a reminder that they’d already had plans.

“Can I at least know where you’re going, so that once we’re done here we can meet you there? I would hate to stay at home all day without you, given that we have most of the day off together. Never happens, not to us.” Lon’qu turned back to what he’d been doing, but looked over his shoulder to see Panne still walking up the street, not paying him any attention. “Yeah, that sounds about right. You do what you want, I’ll do what I want, we stay happier that way.”

While she could have spent her time walking to the park grumbling about how she was being dragged into this party thing without wanting to be part of it, Panne was instead thinking about how she could have just said no and went on with her day as if nothing had happened otherwise. Doing that would have resulted in Maribelle complaining to her later about how what she’d been trying to do ended up in disaster, so it was always better to just get involved and try to make things go smoothly. She wasn’t expecting the park to be completely empty when she got to it, but that was how she found it to be, no one in sight and no cars anywhere nearby. “How odd, the weather isn’t that oppressive, everyone must simply be doing something that…doesn’t involve being out here, I suppose.”

She found the gazebo unattended and available for anyone to use and sat on one of the tables, fidgeting with her hands as she waited for someone, anyone to come by to join her. Expecting the first person to arrive to be Maribelle (and Lissa, but she wasn’t thrilled about that), it came as a shock when it was Chrom, his wife, and their two blue-haired children that approached her there first. “That’s a face I was not expecting to greet us upon arrival,” Chrom remarked, shaking hands with Panne once she’d realized who he was. “Why are you here, and not my sister? Did she forget to attend her own son’s party?”

“I cannot speak for her and won’t attempt to, I’m just here holding the place down because I was asked to do so,” she replied, getting off the table to make herself look more proper to the young girls that were now present. “Everyone else should be here shortly, I don’t know why the venue was forced to change or anything on such short notice, I was contacted not even half an hour ago asking if I could be of help here.”

“It’s supposed to get hotter than I think they think children should be outside in, which is a fair reason to change from where they’d wanted the party to be. The park by Lissa’s house is nice and all, but this one at least has this place here.” Chrom motioned towards the gazebo’s roof, which was doing a stellar job of keeping the sun off of all of them. “And, not sure if you knew this or not, but we don’t live too far from here. Up the hill, within walking distance of the park for ourselves, didn’t take us but five minutes to get here once we were told about the change in plans.”

“Interesting, I was unaware that someone with money and status such as yourself would choose a neighborhood like this to raise a family in,” Panne bluntly said, before catching on to the fact that she came off as slightly rude, Chrom’s eyebrows raising at the statement. “I would merely assume that the person who’s the head of the hospital system, due to family ties and replacement, would want to live somewhere a bit nicer.”

Chrom knew what she was attempting to get at but felt that she was failing to do so, turning his back towards her as he looked at where Sumia was sitting, Lucina next to her and Cynthia on her lap. “I think that where my family wants to live is more important than where my ‘position’ would indicate I should live, and they want to live in a neighborhood with other children and a park they can get to with ease. I do appreciate that you think I deserve better, but you’re sorely mistaken on if I care.”

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to offend you if that’s what I did.” Now Panne was eager to leave before she could even see Maribelle, and that was solely because she’d screwed up in talking to one of the people higher up than her at her workplace. “I was simply making an opinionated observation that you are more than welcome to disagree with, but based on how I’d been taught in my youth I just thought—”

“You’re starting to sound like you’re getting angry with me for not liking what you had to say, I’ll have to ask you to not do that.”

“—angry with you? You think I’m angry with you?” It was true, she was angry, but she wasn’t angry with Chrom by any means; her anger was solely aimed at herself, at her inability to speak with most people normally without making herself look like a huge fool. “There is one person present deserving of my anger and I assure you, it’s not you. But if you want to think that, that’s fine and I’ll accept it, and to apologize for it I’ll just go home and let you do the honors of holding down the gazebo for this stupid party.”

Storming off despite Chrom calling for her to calm down and to rethink what she’d done, Panne was retreading ground she’d very recently walked over, going back to the sidewalk so she could get to her house with ease. Halfway back she could see Maribelle in the distance, her arms full of gifts and decorations, and she froze when she knew that it meant she could be seen as well. Explaining that she’d just gotten into a bit of a dispute with Chrom and left because she felt like a moron and a fool for doing so would only make Maribelle want to fix things, but she knew that she couldn’t turn back and return to the site of the party. She had to continue on her way home and act like nothing had happened, and if that meant passing Maribelle and her full arms by without a second glance, then that was what had to be done.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Maribelle asked her as they went their separate ways, seeing that Panne did not seem like she was stopping on her trip back down to the house. “It better be to help me unload things from my car, I would greatly appreciate the help if you’re willing to give me it!” She got no answer and actually had to stop and turn around to watch as her friend went to her front door, opened it, and slammed it behind her once she was inside the house, Lon’qu still out front watching in confusion. “Did I make a mistake in asking her to assist? Ugh, but I can’t go and ask her what’s wrong, not when Lissa’s expecting me to bring all these things to the party site right this moment.”

Making a mental note to check on Panne when she had the chance, she set her sights up on the park and the gazebo once more, getting there rather slowly when the items she was carrying started weighing her down more than she’d like to admit. By the time she was there, a few more people had trickled in, including the major reason why they’d needed to move the party to being somewhere that wasn’t in the heat of the sun. “Oh, it’s Mari, what a lovely surprise,” Cordelia said when she saw her enter the gazebo, watching her set everything she was holding down but make no effort to move to help her. “Except it isn’t much of a surprise at all, from what I understand you and Meli are attached at the hip most days, right?”

“We’ve always been attached to the hip, you just knew her from the one place we couldn’t be,” she replied, knowing that she should have started decorating with what she’d brought to the party but choosing to socialize instead. She walked over to where Cordelia was sitting and looked down at the stroller she had next to her, her heart starting to beat rapidly when she heard what was definitely unhappy child noises come from within it. “So you brought your baby along with you, what a totally not expected surprise.”

“I wasn’t going to leave her somewhere, not when she could make friends here.” To show off who she’d brought with her, since they were in the shade of the gazebo and not in direct sunlight, Cordelia pulled away the sunshade from over the stroller, revealing the squirming, teary-eyed baby that was sitting in it, the little girl kicking her feet and trying to get her perfectly pink shoes off just from the force of her kicks. “Mari, this is my sweet daughter Severa, you can go ahead and meet her since you’re here. Why you haven’t had the chance to do this yet, I have no clue.”

“Yeah, it always seems that if I’m not going to be with Lissa, she’s choosing to hang around you, how have we not been with her at the same time?” Maribelle was already in the process of crouching down to get more on level with the stroller, the little girl inside of it far too young to really understand who she was interacting with. It was while she was stroking the girl’s head of fuzzy, dark hair that she caught on to how she hadn’t yet met this child: Lissa was treating her time with Cordelia exactly as she thought Maribelle treated her time with Panne, an exclusive activity that not everyone was invited to be a part of.

She was broken from her thought by the sound of the girl she was playing with bursting into tears, her mother frantically working to get her out of her restraints and calm her. “I’m so sorry, she’s usually not so fussy when we’re out like this, she loves attention and tends to thrive whenever she’s got someone focusing on her. I suppose that she might be hungry, or the heat is still getting to her even though we’re in here, but…”

“Do what you need to do to cheer her up, no one here’s going to judge you for whatever you have to do.” At least, Maribelle knew that she wouldn’t judge Cordelia for whatever she did, but she was trying to be supportive to someone she hadn’t actually talked to in a long while (and that her last interaction with had ended in a poor decision that still hurt her when she thought about it). She gave the mother some space, not wanting to crowd her while she cheered her daughter up, and walked around everyone else that had gathered there, seeing who was present before going back to the decorations she’d abandoned and deciding that she’d go through with hanging them anyway.

She hated the feeling that she was the one having to do the hard work because she was Lissa’s closest friend who didn’t have a child or two of her own. Everyone else that was there had at least one kid with them, if not more, and they were allowed to be focusing on their family rather than having to help, and it wasn’t like Maribelle was going to walk up to someone and demand they assist her in what she was doing. Lissa had entrusted her with the decorations because she knew she’d do them right, and she wasn’t going to go against her friend’s judgment just because she felt she was being used.

Even still, hanging streamers all over a gazebo that wasn’t technically theirs to use felt like more effort than she should have been putting into the event, especially as she was having to stand on benches and tables to reach even the lowest points of the ceiling. “All of this is being done for my precious Owain,” she reminded herself, after nearly falling off a table when Lucina had run by and knocked into it, giving a feeble apology in return for her clumsiness. “I cannot allow for anyone or anything to ruin my enjoyment of the day, even if it isn’t going the best right at the moment.”

“Why are you talking to yourself? Don’t you know that people can hear you when you’re out in the open like this?” The arm that grabbed her was firm, as it worked to steady her as she nearly toppled off the table once more, this time not due to a child running by but rather because of the speaker themselves. “You’re giving yourself good advice, but if I’d know that Lissa had put you on decorating duty I would have arrived sooner to assist.”

“There’s no reason for you to need to help me, Frederick, this is just as much your day as it is hers and Owain’s, you should be with them and enjoying it alongside them.” Looking at Frederick and seeing that he was alone, wife and son nowhere to be seen, she did a double take to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating before continuing. “Where are they, by the way? I would have figured that they would’ve been here before some of these people, I don’t even know everyone she’s invited to this but they all seem to have kids with them.”

“We came across a few stragglers who were on their way here as we were parking, she decided she’d keep Owain with her and come up with them, while I had to lead the way and get here in advance.” He offered her a hand to get down off the table, an offer she accepted as she didn’t want to risk almost falling a third time as she tried getting down. “You need to be more careful, Maribelle. There was no reason for you to be risking life and limb for the sake of decorating, not when there are plenty of taller people around who wouldn’t necessarily need to climb on park furniture.”

She knew that he was right, and that she should have asked someone to help her out when it came to hanging streamers from above, but her desire to not disrupt families that were there together still told her that she had been in the right all along. “Okay, sure, but can you imagine what would have happened had I asked someone to help? They would have told me to do it myself, because they’re here with people and I’m not. I helped plan the party, the least I can do is set it up.”

“The least you should have done was drag your husband along, he could have hung the streamers in half the time it took you, and if he’d brought any of his work equipment with him he’d have done it faster still.” Frederick paused, giving Maribelle time to accept that what he’d said was the absolute truth, no doubt about it. “Say, do you have any idea why we saw his work vehicle sitting down the street? He wasn’t in it, but it was his, I even checked the interior through the windows and saw some of his belongings.”

“W-what? He’s down the street?” Maribelle knew that it meant he was at Panne’s house, and she knew that it meant he was probably talking to Lon’qu, but after the interaction with Panne she’d had when they’d passed each other by on the sidewalk she wasn’t exactly comfortable with knowing he was there. “I have to go check on him, I’m sure he’s fine, and it’s most likely me being irrational thinking like this, but something weird is happening there and I need to make sure that it’s not as bad as I think it is.”

“He’s a grown man, he can handle himself for a little while. Stay here, stay with us, Lissa and Owain should be here soon and this party should get underway. You wouldn’t want to miss out on seeing my boy get to celebrate his first birthday, would you?” Hearing the pride in Frederick’s voice was more than enough to get her to steady her mind and decide that she could leave Vaike to his own devices for a little while longer. It was still early in the day, and with him being at the house of two people who definitely avoided alcohol it wasn’t like he was getting drunk and wasting the rest of his day being a drunken mess.

But even when the birthday boy and his mother did arrive, and everyone was able to start celebrating with the guest of honor, Maribelle couldn’t help but think that she was allowing for something bad to happen without her. She was dwelling on the fact that her brief interaction there with Panne had been so strange and so different than how they normally were around each other that she couldn’t be sure what was going on inside that house that afternoon. Her heart was hurting in the presence of all these children—although Owain was always the single objection to that, as he made her happy no matter how she was feeling—and her mind was struggling to cope with the fact that she didn’t know what her husband had gotten himself into this time.

Yet if it were possible to compare which of them was in a better situation in that very moment, he’d have her beat by a landslide. That were to assume that he was having any fun in his situation, though, which he wasn’t by any means, and that meant that maybe she was in the position of being somewhere better. Or perhaps it meant that they’d both picked a side that had ultimately ended up bad for them both, when viewed through their own eyes, but the other could look at it and suppose it was better than what they’d done themselves.


	9. The Wishing Well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: property destruction

Two days later, exactly how what Vaike had been doing that day came to fruition, and just because he’d been trying to get help from Lon’qu and Panne to decide what he was going to do as an anniversary gift didn’t mean he’d actually come up with anything. She’d spent the whole time being grumpy about something, and while Lon’qu was at least able to suggest a couple places that he felt they could go to celebrate their time together, he wasn’t as effective as she would have been if she wanted to help. That left Vaike with a bunch of half-thought out ideas and nothing concrete, and with Maribelle now not having a birthday party that she ended up not even enjoying on her mind, he needed to try his best to make their special day actually feel like it was something special to her.

This meant waking her up early that morning (she’d requested that whole week off as it was simply routine at that point, so there was no risk of her needing to work) with a large grin on his face as he rolled on top of her, trying to get her to smile in her first moments being awake. Instead, what he got was her frowning at him, trying to push him off with her arms being pinned underneath the light blanket she’d been sleeping with. “It’s too hot for this, Vaike, why are you on me?” she asked, struggling to make any progress in moving him. “Let me sleep in peace, please!”

“C’mon Maribelle, y’know what today is, don’t ya?” Although he was rolling back off of her and into his usual spot on the bed, he was making sure to keep facing her, even as she pulled a pillow over her face to block out his voice and the light coming in through their window. “I’m guessin’ ya don’t, which means—”

“I _know_ what today is, I’d just rather sleep than be awake right now. It shouldn’t be this hot this early in the day,” she snapped in response, rolling so that her back was facing him. It wasn’t fully covered by the blanket, and because of her movement the flimsy material of her nightshirt had slid out of place completely, exposing the bare skin on most of her back. Without asking her if it was okay, he reached over and laid his hand on one of her shoulders, before lifting it and tracing a heart into the area with a finger. She let out a long sigh and lifted the pillow from her face, turning her head to look back at him with a killer side-eye. “Why do you think you’re allowed to touch me like that when it’s so hot in here? I’d rather you not, thanks.”

He nodded and pulled his hand away, sitting up in the bed before deciding to just get up fully so the temptation to mess with Maribelle more wasn’t there. “I was just thinkin’ ‘bout how nice that spot right there is on ya, how it’d be perfect for…somethin’ or other goin’ there.” In his mind, he knew exactly what he’d suggest if he was given the opportunity to do it, but it wasn’t the time or place to even bring that up, not if he wanted a chance to make the day special. “Just sayin’, maybe one ‘a these days we can go out and get that done together.”

“You wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is how great of a place my shoulder would be for some art? Sometimes I don’t understand you, Vaike, I really don’t.” A tiny smile appeared on her lips, but it was quickly dismissed when she pulled the pillow back over her face. “Now let me get back to sleep, you can do whatever you want right now but my day isn’t starting yet.”

Watching her shut herself off from him made him feel like he’d done something wrong, but this was a tired Maribelle on a day off, of course she was going to try to be as lazy as she could for as long as she could. “Okay, I s’pose I could get a head start on everythin’ else I need t’do right now,” he said to himself, going to his dresser and looking through it for the nicest warm-weather clothes he owned. It wasn’t much, and he wasn’t expecting it to be, but he wanted to look his best even if it was unbearably hot at the moment. Once he’d picked something that he felt he wasn’t going to get better than, he headed over to the bathroom to take a quick shower, to wash the sweat off of his skin that had come over him in his sleep; it was while he was standing under the frigid water in the shower that he heard a door slam out in the bedroom, followed by Maribelle yelling at something.

He tried calling out to her but went ignored, possibly because of the water and walls muffling his voice just as it had done hers, but when she kept yelling he started to grow concerned. Without even shutting the water off, he jumped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to prevent himself from dripping water everywhere, then he left the bathroom to see Maribelle standing in front of her closet, yelling about how disorganized everything was in that moment. “Jeez, thought ya were out here dyin’ or somethin’,” he said to announce his presence, startling her into jumping and turning to face him. “Next time you’re gonna have a meltdown like that, can ya make sure I can properly hear everythin’ so I don’t think there’s a murderer in the house?”

“I didn’t know you’d hear me over your thoughts and the water,” she replied, hand over her heart as she recovered from the minor startle he’d given her. “I’m just at a loss right now, my things have usually been very organized compared to how they are right now, I don’t understand how things got so messy without me realizing it.” As she turned back towards the closet to look further at the damage, he stepped back a couple paces, knowing exactly what had happened and not wanting to tell her that he was the one responsible for what she was looking at. He’d gone through some of her belongings in search of a couple things in particular, and while he’d ended up finding them he hadn’t known how to clean up the mess he’d made in the process; he was hopeful that once she knew why he’d done it, he’d be forgiven in a heartbeat.

“Well, looks like you’re gonna haveta clean that back up later.” He laughed, trying to cover up the awkwardness of knowing he’d caused the scene she was witnessing. “Why’re ya in there anyway, don’t ya have anythin’ to wear elsewhere?”

She blinked a couple times, letting her eyes focus on a different part of the closet each time she reopened them. “I’d rather not talk about that, you’ll do nothing but make fun of me if you hear me say it. Just go back to your shower and let me handle this myself.”

“Uh, nice try, but now ya got me all worried. What’s goin’ on?” With Maribelle, anything could set her off into a bad mood, but he wasn’t expecting her dirtied closet to be the thing to trigger it this time. He had to forcibly get her to turn around to face him, her eyes dodging his once she’d been moved, and he realized quickly that she was looking away from him entirely. “Okay, now you’re just bein’ weird, and it’s really startin’ t’bother me.”

“I figured I should try and wear something that looks somewhat decent for the day, since I know you and I know you’re going to want to go out and do something, but it’s impossible when I don’t look cute in anything I own anymore!” As she spoke, she was focused on the ground in front of the bed, eyes unwavering where they’d been locked. “That’s why I went to the closet, to see if I had anything in there, but since it’s a mess I got distracted with the mess part and not the clothes part!”

“Hold on, go back a sec, you said you don’t look cute in anythin’ you own anymore? What’s up with that lie right there?” Maybe it was because she was barely dressed in her nightclothes, but he would have argued until his last breath that she looked cute in that very moment without trying at all.

He might have needed to, especially when Maribelle looked up at him with tears welling in her bright eyes, as she brought her arms to rest crossing in front of her body. “I’m sorry, I just—I don’t—I didn’t mean to let it happen like this. This past year’s been kind of wild and I’ve focused less on myself and more on everyone else for a change and it’s just been awful on my self-image. Especially when I’m married to someone who works with their hands, does heavy labor on a daily basis, and looks almost like he could be a model if he gave it just a bit of work.” She sniffled, pulling her arms in closer to herself, while he was left struggling to figure out how to respond. “Meanwhile I do nothing but my desk job and spend time sitting around with friends.”

“Whatever you’re convincin’ yourself of, ya gotta knock it off right now. You’ve had a bad year, yeah, but nothin’ changed ‘bout ya that much, don’t worry.” In an attempt to back his words up with action, Vaike was looking her over, trying to find somewhere on her body that he could point out in specific, but she noticed him making his effort and shied away. “No, don’t hide from the truth! There ain’t anythin’ ya need t’be concerned about with how ya look, you’re still the gorgeous woman I married and that’s what matters, don’t ya think?”

“You’re trying really hard to cheer me up and I appreciate it, but it’s not going to work. I’m just going to hope I can find something that’s cute and fits me properly in the closet, otherwise I’m wearing professional clothes wherever we end up going.” That was the last thing he wanted her to do, given what vague plans he’d set up for them for the day, but he didn’t want to stick his foot further into his mouth by saying anything else. “Go finish showering, I know you left the water on when you came out here.”

He laughed, having been caught in his mistake, and headed back to the bathroom to try putting what had just happened out of his mind. As he closed the door behind him and turned to see himself in the mirror, he was struck with a feeling of not having done enough to convince Maribelle she was wrong about herself. She’d thrown some high compliments towards him while putting herself down further, and he’d just told her to stop saying negative things about herself without giving her much in the way of compliments of her own. “Gods, why is it that she’s havin’ this kind ‘a breakdown today of all days? Doesn’t she know that I love her for what’s inside ‘a her, not what she looks like?”

The wording he’d chosen as he affirmed how he felt was easily the stupidest thing he could have said, and it brought him back to what he’d been thinking when he was tracing that heart into her shoulder earlier. Shaking that out of his mind was next to impossible, but when he got back into the cold shower he was able to at least move his thoughts onto something else: the possibility that Maribelle was going to see what he’d planned and convince herself that she couldn’t partake in it because of something that was present entirely in her own head.

His shower didn’t last too much longer after he’d resumed it, and after he’d shut the water off and properly dried himself, he got half-dressed in the clothes he’d grabbed and, after fixing his hair to make it look less of a freshly-cleaned disaster, he took his shirt out into the bedroom with him so he could put it on out in the bedroom. Maribelle had since closed her closet and was sitting on the edge of the bed dressed similarly to how he was, the only difference being that she had something on her top half. She seemed not surprised at all to see her husband coming out of the shower without his shirt on, but watching him approach her put a downcast look on her face. “You’re even attractive when you’re not just wearing a towel,” she told him, hopping off the bed and grabbing the shirt she’d set next to her so she could put it on. “That’s depressing, I’m sure no one would say I’m attractive at this point.”

“I would, without any hesitation,” he replied, trying to look at her face and not her chest, which was right there and completely open to be stared at if he wasn’t trying to be respectful. “Like I said, you’re still the gorgeous woman I married, even if ya might look a li’l different, but who cares if ya do? It’s been a bad year and ya didn’t stay on top ‘a takin’ care ‘a yourself, no one’s gonna blame ya.”

Pulling her shirt over her head to cover herself, and thankful that she’d found a cute shirt that didn’t cling to her like she was scared it would, Maribelle ran a hand through part of her hair once the shirt was fully on so that she could straighten it up. “You’re right, I totally get that, but I don’t even think people I know who had _living_ children in the past year managed to screw themselves up as much as I did.”

“H-hey, there ain’t any reason t’talk about yourself like that,” he said, throwing his own shirt aside to have both hands free to grab her with. “You’re still a beautiful person, no matter what ya think ya look like, and I’ll gladly tell ya that every time ya need t’hear it if ya want me to, I promise. One year ‘a copin’ with some rough stuff ain’t ever gonna ruin ya in my eyes, and if I ever change my mind ya have permission t’smack me as hard as ya can, with all ‘a your weight behind it.”

“I think you’re trying to help but doing it all wrong, but thanks for that. If I catch you saying even one negative thing about how I look, I promise I will make you regret saying what you just did.” The small smile that Maribelle managed to give as she spoke was enough to make Vaike hopeful this was the end of the problems for the day, but he knew that what he’d planned would only make this exact issue crop up again very soon, if she didn’t change her mind on it in the meantime.

He just had to believe in her ability to get over what was bothering her for the sake of her own happiness and to have a few hours of doing nothing but reveling in being with each other on such an important day. After they were both properly dressed and considered themselves ready to go out into the heat, the first stop to make was at a little breakfast place that they’d talked about going to a few times but never had committed to visiting. It wasn’t all that special, although the prices of the food made the idea of going back again tempting because it was a lot of food for cheap, but the experience of dining together and being somewhere they hadn’t been was what was most important.

From there, it was into town, just driving around and going past places they frequently went to, making small-talk about what they’d done here and there, but not really saying much of interest to the other. Every so often, Vaike would look to the clock in the car, to see what time it was and how long he had left to stall before he could take her to where he’d been planning to all along. Eventually, Maribelle caught on to the fact that he was stalling and asked him to just take her wherever it was, even if they were early. “Ya don’t understand, we can’t walk in early. I got the place empty for us for an hour but it’ll have people there if we go just a bit early. It won’t be much longer ‘fore we can head that way, I just wanna make sure we’re not showin’ up with others still there.”

“You rented somewhere special for us to be for an hour?” she asked, looking at him with raised eyebrows, before laughing. “That’s adorable! I hope it’s somewhere fancy, that we usually couldn’t afford to go, if it’s only for an hour. Make every second count because we’ll never get to experience it again, right?”

He laughed as well, even though he knew she was dead wrong about what she said. “You’ll see that it’s a place we’ve experienced before, it’s just not somewhere that ya would expect t’be taken back to on a normal day.”

“Oh, well, in that case, handle this however you want, something’s telling me this isn’t going to be as enjoyable as you’re hyping it up to be.” That was what he was afraid to hear her say, but he was already committed to the plan, he couldn’t back out and try to come up with something else to do at the last minute. There was nothing that could be done about her not finding where he’d chosen for them to spend some time on their anniversary interesting or worth the effort, but he did know that there was still the chance that she’d enjoy it after all. She still didn’t know where it was he was taking her, and she definitely didn’t know what he was planning for once they were there.

When he pulled the car up in front of the church they’d spent a lot of time in five years before that, her immediate reaction was to slam her hand down on her lap and give out a loud, surprised _no_ that made him burst into laughter. “Can’t tell if that’s ya bein’ shocked I thought ‘a this or ya bein’ disappointed that this is where we’re goin’,” he commented as he parked the car and got out, going around the other side to help her out like a proper gentleman. “Wish I could say it was actually my idea for it, but hey, I came up with the actual location, someone else told me t’bring ya somewhere that we’d had a really great memory at.”

“I hadn’t ever considered coming back to this place, honestly, so to see that we’re going to be here for a bit just makes me, I don’t know, happy? I guess?” Accepting his assistance out of the car, Maribelle started walking towards the front doors of the church before she was kindly asked to stop and to wait a second. Unsure of why that was, she turned to look back at Vaike and saw him getting a bag out of the back of the car, which he handed to her once he’d joined her on the path, before he hoisted her up into his arms and started carrying her to the doors. “Oh my gods, are we going to reenact our wedding in reverse or something? If that’s the case, put me down, right now!”

“Hush, it ain’t the case so don’t get so worked up. Just be along for the ride, we’re gonna have a good time while we’re here.” The front door was propped open very slightly when they got to it, just enough that Vaike was able to stick his foot in the gap and wedge it open so that they could enter the building. The last time they’d been there, it had been filled with their friends and people they cared about, decorated to celebrate them, and was a much different atmosphere than what they were now walking into. It was definitely a building that was still used, but it seemed so dreary compared to the place they’d known it to be. Once they were fully inside and the door came to rest mostly closed once more, he set her down and took the bag back from her arms. “Now’s the fun part, d’ya remember where anythin’ is in here?”

“I know where the room we got married in was, but other than that…” Maribelle’s voice trailed off as she looked around the entryway they were currently standing in, her memories carrying her back to that special day. “I know where the room I used as my preparation room was, if we wanted to go check that out. I wonder if they ever fixed the mirror in there.”

“Sounds like that’d be a good place t’go look, then. We can see what’s goin’ on in there, then move on to the room where me and the guys were before the ceremony started, and then from there…maybe the main room? Not like there’d be much t’see in there, and all our memories ‘a that place are pretty damn special but it’s an idea.” Shrugging, Vaike gestured for Maribelle to lead the way down to the room she’d been thinking off and she did, although with slight hesitation in her step as she wasn’t fully convinced she knew where it was they were going.

Much like every time she’d set foot in that dressing room on her wedding day, she entered the room being very mindful of the possibility of there being an oversized mirror on the wall waiting to present her with her reflection. In the years since she’d broken it on accident a smaller one had been hung to replace it, but it seemed that the time to replace the small one for something bigger was upon the church as leaning against one of the other walls was a larger mirror as well as a ladder, set up to test its height. “I’m not sure we want to be in here,” she said, looking at how it seemed to be in a current state of construction and frowning. “While it does make me happy to see that they’re finally getting around to properly fixing the broken mirror, I’d hate for us to break the new one.”

“That’s fine, we’ve got other places here t’get to, it’s not like this was the only one we were intendin’ on spendin’ time in.” Shrugging, as the suggestion of leaving wasn’t anything he was opposed to, Vaike stepped back out into the hall but Maribelle lingered in the room, still looking just a little longer. That was the place that had started all her so-called bad luck, if she was going to go by the words of her best friend, when she’d opened the door and came inside to the mirror shattering; now it was finally getting fixed and she wasn’t going to have the chance to break the replacement one. Did that mean her luck, if it was a real concept, was finally going to fix itself?

By the time she finally left the room, Vaike looked to be ready to move onto other places, based on how he was playing with the bag he was carrying with him. “What’s the deal with that? If we’re not recreating our wedding day, why did you bring something in with you?” Maribelle asked once they were on their way to the other side of the church to reminisce for a moment in the men’s dressing area they’d used. “We don’t have time to have a picnic lunch in here or anything like that, since you only got the place emptied for an hour.”

“It’s for somethin’, just ya wait t’see what it is,” he answered, taking the lead between them to get them to the other room faster. It was in much better shape than the previous one had been, although there was also a ladder standing in the middle of the room that didn’t have as easy of an explanation as hanging a mirror for its presence. “In here, five years ago, I got told that if I ever actually hurt a hair on your head I would be murdered for doin’ it, and now that we’ve gone through everythin’ we’ve had t’deal with, I wonder if any ‘a it counts as me hurtin’ ya.”

“Who made that pact with you? Sounds like something my father would have done, but I know that he…you know, wasn’t exactly speaking to you that day.” Even though she’d given it her best attempt to get the answer from him, Vaike didn’t seem interested in replying to her question and that was fine, he was allowed to keep things like that from her. It wasn’t like she’d never kept any secrets from him at any point, anyway. “Okay, but, whoever it is, I wonder if they know now that the whole ceremony was just for show. Did you know that getting access to that information isn’t as difficult as you’d think?”

“Ya work in the law field, of course it’s not difficult for ya. And no, there shouldn’t be anyone who knows that today ain’t really the actual anniversary, outside ‘a the two ‘a us. That’s one ‘a those things we’ll end up takin’ to our deaths, I’m sure.” Standing in the middle of the room, right next to the ladder, Vaike was looking around to see what its purpose was in there but finding nothing. “Doesn’t look like there’s any kind ‘a work goin’ down in here, would ya be too terribly upset if I told ya now that I don’t plan on goin’ anywhere else in this buildin’ today?”

As he was pushing the ladder aside, stepping under it a couple of times to make sure it didn’t collapse and fall on either of them while it moved, Maribelle found herself starting to grow wary of what his plan was. “I thought we were going to see the room where we had the ceremony, but if you didn’t ever actually intend on us going there I suppose I won’t be too upset about it. It’s just a room with pews and an altar, nothing to write home about.”

“Good, ‘cause what I’ve been plannin’ for us t’do in here is much, much better than lookin’ at that borin’ nonsense.” With the ladder now out of the way, Vaike pointed towards the bag he’d been carrying with him, that he’d dropped right by Maribelle’s feet when he’d gone to move the ladder. “Open it up, you’ll see what I mean real quick.”

“I’m trusting you on this one, you’re leading me all sorts of directions and I—oh _gods_ Vaike what are you expecting us to do in here?” Her change in thought came after picking up and opening the bag and seeing that it was filled with some of her more personal, intimate belongings, including her trusty parasol. Face heating up as she realized that he’d gotten the church emptied for them to ring in five years being married in a more adult manner, she dropped the bag back at her feet and adamantly shook her head. “You’re expecting me to go along with this? Are you serious?”

“We’ve got more than enough time t’make it happen, if you’re down for it. Otherwise, we’re either goin’ back t’the house or takin’ some time in the car to have some fun, those are your options.” Now that she knew what his intentions were with their private time in the church together, he was fine with taking his shirt off and getting ready to strip down, even though she looked horrified to see him doing so. “C’mon Maribelle, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind ‘a thing, won’t ever ask ya t’consider gettin' kinky in a church again after this, swear on my life. We’ll only have our fifth anniversary once, y’know.”

She bit her lip as she looked down at the bag once more, her favorite negligee sitting in it alongside some of her other skimpy pieces of lingerie that she hadn’t touched in over a year. “I suppose you did just say getting ‘kinky’, and not going any further than that, so as long as we keep it brief I don’t see too much of a problem with it.” That was all that it took to get him to continue on getting undressed, while she had to change from what she was wearing into something that was sitting in the bag—a process that involved her cursing out herself for not having anything bigger than she did, nearly ripping through the delicate lace of a couple pieces, and ultimately ended with her squeezed into something that would burst open if she were to get too rough.

But in the end, their time spent in that room was meant to get a little rough, and her exposing herself on accident wasn’t the end of the world given that they were alone. With no one else in the church they were able to have fun to their hearts’ content, ending their private session with a bit more risqué behavior than should have been taking place in a building of that type. When they were done they changed back into what they’d come inside wearing, although the smiles and content feelings they had were newly-acquired, and leaving the church was a whole different experience than when they’d arrived, minus him sweeping her off her feet once more as they walked out the door.

There was still a whole lot of day left to celebrate themselves with, but nothing was really going to top their church endeavor, and no one was going to ever know what they’d done.

* * *

For the better part of the next year, Maribelle tried to break her focus away from the cycle her life had continuously taken on over the past five years, working to better herself rather than solely spend her time on her job and her friends. While it didn’t impact much in the way of what she did on a day-to-day basis, she did end up finding herself wondering what she would have done if she hadn’t decided to change something and instead continued the way she had been. Time with friends was shortened slightly, as was time spent on her job outside of work hours, and she made it a point to get some actual quality hours in with her husband that didn’t require any outside planning.

Even with those small changes she made, though, she began to notice that her life felt relatively dull when she got down to the meat of everything. There weren’t any surprises, she still ran like clockwork even if she’d changed up her schedule, and the only thing she could count on to break from her monotony was spending time with small children, in specific Owain but others worked in a pinch. That was how she ended up getting back in contact with some people that she’d worked with in cases in the past, trying to see if spending an hour or two with their child under the guise of making sure everything was still in order would combat her feeling of monotony. It did work, and she had some lovely conversations with some parents while getting to color pictures or play games with children, but it was a temporary fix for a long-term problem.

That very problem was only getting made to be worse by her job, which had put her on the case of something that she hadn’t even gotten a solid understanding of until she’d done the research for it on her own. It had turned out that the woman responsible for the multiple calls about surrogacy laws had been looking for information about what it was like to get into the role, which wasn’t anything Maribelle had been able to provide her. That had escalated the issue into the woman accusing her of being unwilling to assist, even though that wasn’t anywhere close to the truth of the matter, and she’d thought she’d heard the last of it when the woman called and said she’d cease contact permanently as she’d found somewhere else that would give her what she wanted.

But that was just the beginning of the story with that woman, who wasn’t actually bad but did have some strange quirks about her, once she and Maribelle met face to face, her having come into the office building looking for her in specific a few months after that last call. “From how I understand it, you’re here to see me because you’re looking to, from what my receptionist told me, apologize for your behavior?” she asked, once the woman was seated in her office, sitting stiff and proper in the chair as she nodded at the question. “Okay, it isn’t typical that someone I met exclusively through phone conversations decides she’s going to come in and apologize, but I’ll bite. What’s your real reason for being here, huh?”

“I got a stern talk about how I treated you with disrespect and refused to understand that you weren’t someone who could assist me in my search for knowledge, and the couple I was interested in assisting told me I should apologize. Therefore, you have to put up with me being here.” Every word was said with a straight face, but it was just strange enough that Maribelle wasn’t quite believing what she’d heard.

She wasn’t going to say anything pointed on the matter, though, not when she was in her workplace and could be overheard if she said anything inappropriate. “Okay, miss Cherche, I accept your apology and would warmly welcome you into becoming one of my clients if you’re still looking for assistance.”

“I’m sure that offer will be taken up at some point,” she said without changing her expression at all, which was unnerving to see and even more unsettling to hear. This woman, who’d been fairly insistent on calling to get information that she wasn’t able to be provided, who’d made a call to the office to get Maribelle to visit her in the hospital for the same reason, who’d been clear to say that she’d found somewhere else for her legal help, was now saying she’d come back for help if she needed it. It was beyond strange, but in that particular line of work Maribelle was sure that people had seen and heard weirder.

Never did she expect that _she_ would become someone who’d get to experience something even stranger, never knowing how deep that rabbit hole went until she found herself falling towards the bottom. That ended up being Vaike’s fault, if she was being completely honest with herself, and came one spring morning a couple days after her birthday. She hadn’t seen or thought much about Cherche and her particular brand of weirdness in the time since that visit, and hadn’t expected to need to until she was inevitably called once more about something that she had learned far too much about (to the point that she was starting to throw around the possibility of trying to find someone to play surrogate for herself). It was almost like this woman had come into her life just to make her consider something that she’d never even thought of before, and she wasn’t sure if she needed to be angry or thankful for opening up that idea.

It became the former when she got dragged into going out for a friendly meal with her husband and a few of his friends, the only reason she went being because she was told Panne and Lon’qu would be there. When they arrived at the rundown restaurant that was picked for the meal, they were nowhere in sight and it seemed the only people that were there were Sully and some man she’d never met before, who Vaike didn’t seem too thrilled to see with his friend. After learning that his name was Virion, and that he was attached to Sully somehow in a romantic sense, she still didn’t know why he wasn’t wanted there, but when he opened his mouth to introduce himself to the person he hadn’t met, she was made all-too aware of why. “Who’s this lovely lady here, coming in with such a lackluster man?” he asked, bending down in front of Maribelle and taking one of her hands to gently kiss it.

She pulled it away the moment she saw him pucker his lips, preventing him from doing anything weird. “I’m Maribelle, and I’d rather you not insult my husband in front of me, thank you. Who do you think you are to do that, anyway?”

“I think I’m a man of refined tastes, that’s what, and you seem to be a lady cut from the same cloth, so why bother with him when you could do better?” The words were reminding her of conversations she’d once had with her parents, how they’d tried convincing her that she could do better than who she loved, and she wanted nothing to do with it. It took Sully coming into the conversation and telling him to knock it off to get him to stop, even with her looking uncomfortable with how he was talking. “I suppose leaving it be will be for the best, there’s so much else to celebrate here tonight that being critical of a marriage should be the furthest thing from my mind!”

“We’re celebrating something?” Maribelle asked in a whispered tone, looking to Vaike for an answer but getting nothing of the sort from him as he was just as confused as she was. “There’s no way that this was put together for, say, a birthday, is there?”

“Oh good, that means none of those loudmouths we know told you, I was worried one of them would spill the damn beans before they were supposed to.” Looking at the only two people that had gathered there of the multiple ones invited, Sully shook her head as she rolled her eyes in disgust. “It’s nothing super important, but—”

Virion gasped in shock at what he’d heard her say, cutting her off before she had a chance to finish her thought. “Nothing important? Why, my love, this is the most important thing we’ve ever had to share with anyone? Well, most important thing for yourself, I’ve had some other things of a bit more importance I’ve dealt with in my years.”

“—okay, can you not ramble while you’re talking over me? I didn’t ask for you to make this about yourself, it’s an ‘us’ thing we’re sharing with friends.” Her eyes landing on Maribelle as she softened her expression, Sully could tell that she still had no idea what was being talked about, and she was only about to make it worse. “But we’ve got to make some kind of arrangement with you, honestly, it’s already gone to hell and we’ve got no choice but to get some sort of legal representation in all of it.”

Clasping her hands together in front of her face as she let that sink in, Maribelle could feel so many questions bubbling up within her, but the only thing she felt was appropriate to say there in that moment was a cheerful, “What a perfect night for everyone else to bail out on your announcement then, hm? We can make quick work of putting together a case if we’re the only ones here tonight.”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say, because this is…not good, that’s for sure.” It wasn’t until they were at their table and were waiting on their meals that they started talking about that topic once more, having gotten the small-talk out of the way early to make sure they could get places. After making sure that Virion wasn’t going to open his mouth and ruin what was going to happen, Sully took complete control of the direction of their conversation, leading it exactly where she needed it to go in order to get the situation out in the open as quickly and wholly as possible.

By the time the meals were at the table, she’d given just about every piece of information that would ever be relevant to the case they were trying to build: because of multiple reasons, the most important one being a desire to not have to stop working at any point, the couple had decided that, because they wanted to have a family of their own, they would have someone else carry their child for them, but that person had decided that she was going to take the child as her own instead. Her stomach sinking as she heard the facts being thrown out to her, Maribelle had the worst feeling that she knew who was involved but didn’t know how she’d mention it until their identity was made public. She didn’t want to assume that everything was connected, she wanted to have hope that the strange woman she’d had to talk to wasn’t involved in this case in any way, shape, or form.

It just wasn’t in the cards, and to thank for that revelation was Virion, who nearly knocked over a glass on the table as he got rather worked up about what was being said. “I’ve known Cherche for so long, we grew up together and she worked under me while we were in Rosanne, but when I came to Ylisse for love, she followed me to escape what I’d left in my wake and our closeness diminished a bit. She married someone and had a child with him, while I perfectly cultivated my romance with the woman meant for me, but because having children between us wasn’t in the cards she offered to do the honors for us. And for what? To decide that she wants our kid for herself, as payment for all the time she worked for me!”

“I can’t believe this,” Maribelle muttered under her breath, Vaike hearing her and figuring it was being said because she was being treated to this call for legal representation while out at dinner. But when she stood up, stepping away from the table for a moment to get her head straight on her shoulders before coming back to the conversation, she was quickly able to prove him wrong. “I’m more than willing to dip my toes into this issue, because I’ve personally had to deal with Cherche prior to this. Several times, if we’re being honest.”

“Yes, she was present the first time I spoke to someone about legal protections when it comes to using a surrogate, looking for a lawyer to fall back on in case something went strange.” That was when Virion pulled out a well-worn piece of paper, sliding it across the table for Maribelle to open, finding inside it the handwritten notes of directions she’d given Frederick to pass along to someone. Her mouth began to hang open slightly, her having assumed that whoever he’d given that to no longer needed her assistance because the directions were never followed, but she was now realizing that the assistance they needed came much later than expected.

“She called me _before_ I spoke to Frederick about, ahem, the two of you,” she said, pushing the paper back to Virion so he could do whatever he wished with it. “The day before, asking me about surrogacy laws. And she called me to the hospital that same day to try asking me in person as well, so you’re saying she was ahead of you in finding me, but wanted to use my knowledge of the law against you, even though she knew you’d be trying to use me as well?”

“That’s what it looks like, doesn’t it?” Sounding annoyed that they were having to talk about this, which made sense given that this wasn’t exactly a cheap process and they were being told their child wasn’t ever going to be theirs, Sully rolled her eyes before looking to Maribelle, a sincere expression of begging in her eyes. “I’m not one to get down on my knees to get what I want, but you know that we don’t deserve what she’s doing to us, yeah? You know that we deserve our damn child that she agreed to have for us, because she knew us and what we needed? You’re going to fight to hell and back for us?”

Giving a yes or no answer wasn’t going to be possible right then, not in a setting where there wasn’t anything legally binding about what she did. “Come visit me in my office tomorrow, I’ll tap into some resources and see what there is that can be done. Theft by a surrogate isn’t something I ever expected to have to fight against, but I…I can try to do it, for you two.”

This wasn’t a case she actually wanted to take on, not when she knew one of the people involved to an extent (although they’d never been close by any means, which made learning everything there that night that much more surprising), but she knew pushing them off onto someone else at her office would just cause for an unbalanced workload on someone’s shoulders. She wasn’t going to give up her other cases she was working on, therefore making herself the one with the unbalanced workload, and she was pretty sure she could force herself to be okay with that. The next day, exactly as she’d told them, they showed up to visit her and get a proper consultation and understanding on what the law could and couldn’t do for them, but her relative inexperience in that particular field was catching up with her fast.  
Everything she thought was a possible way to win the battle became something she had to look up and deeply research before she could commit to it, and after half a day’s work spent on trying to piece a very basic case together she found herself struggling to even know what the rights she was going to be arguing for were. “This is such a strange gray area, I can’t even begin to understand why anyone would go through with this when there’s all these unknowns about the situation,” she told them, after giving them the roughest outline of how she was going to approach things. “The only thing I can think would have saved yourselves a lot of trouble here would be documentation that specifically prevented this, but I’m sure you’d have to sign that before the embryos were placed inside her, correct?”

“Trust me when I say we did everything exactly to the letter, and were assured that she had done the same, but we must’ve picked somewhere bad to do this because they gave her a different set of forms that we aren’t even allowed to see.” Virion sniffled, quite obviously trying to appear deeply upset but unable to cry in the moment. “Yes, I’ve spoken to her about this since she declared our child hers, that’s all the information I was given though.”

“Okay, first step, do not speak to her again unless I’m present.” Usually Maribelle included a statement about an officer being present, but she didn’t want either of them getting the idea that an off-duty officer or one with personal claim in the matter was acceptable, given that one of them actually was an officer. “Second step, the next time we meet about this you need to bring me every document, correspondence, message, anything that you might have that relates back to this case. I may not know everything about surrogacy laws yet, but I do know a thing or two about child abduction and I’m going to play this exactly like I’d do a case in that field. Third step, do not let your hopes falter about getting your child whenever it’s born, I assure you that we will resolve all of this in time.”

They weren’t convinced of that, but neither was she and that was something she was going to have to work hard to prove them all wrong about. There had been so few cases in her career that she’d ended up on the losing side of, she didn’t want to allow for this one to fall into that same, painful category, not when there were so many people who’d been pulling for her to get involved since before there was even a reason for a legal representation to be on anyone’s mind.

For days, she focused more on getting that case off the ground than she did on any of her other cases, although she wasn’t entirely ignoring everything else she had going on at that moment. The thing that was sacrificed for getting all of her cases taken care of was free time spent with friends and family, but she knew that if she told any of them what was happening at work they’d excuse her complete lack of contact for that stretch of days. Once she had all the documents she’d requested and was able to leaf through those and try to build parts of the case from them, she felt she could put a little less emphasis on that case and move towards some of her others once more, but by then she’d spent nearly a week frantically trying to get things started and she was drained from all things work-related. What a shame it was that even with all her extra time spent at work, she still needed to come in one day that weekend to play catch-up on everything else.

One more day of this heavy focus on working and then she’d have time to rest, which would then allow her to see friends in the coming week. Her arrival at the office that morning was bright and early, before the receptionist was even there but not before the doors were unlocked, and she fell into her pattern of working case files immediately, wanting to get everything done so she could get her mind off of all these poor children for a day. To combat her growing wariness of what she was doing, she was thinking about all the great things she could do with her free time the next day, the lounging around in comfortable clothing, spending time with her husband, maybe going out to spend an hour or two with a friend if she felt up to it, not a single worry about work on her mind for the entire day.

Thinking about unrelated things was enough to get her to blow through most of her work, but she’d left the parts that required the most attention for last, after she’d taken a lunch break and had time to refresh herself and what little energy she had left to devote to the cases. With every minute that passed post-break, she began to resent being trapped in her office, wishing she could go work somewhere else for a change, possibly do a visit of some of her clients just to check on them. There was the family that she could do a follow-up with, the father that had hit his daughter with the car—she’d gone to see them many times once they’d gotten custody rights of their children back, and while they were a strange family, they seemed to be loving and very caring of the kids they had under their roof. She’d been working with them on certifying them to become a long-term foster home, working alongside local agencies to take care of kids who needed more of a family setting.

That reminded her of one other thing she needed to take care of before she had her day off, and so as she set aside her current case work she picked up the phone and dialed out to a shelter that she called more frequently than she felt she should have been needing to. “Maribelle, just like always you call at the most inopportune time,” Miriel’s voice on the other side answered, not even having to verbally check to see who she was speaking with. “It’s such a warm day out that Libra suggested taking the children for an art walk, to see the statues they’ve constructed in the area, and we were just leaving when you called. Important business, I assume?”

“It’s not life-or-death business at the moment, and don’t think I’m calling about seeing how you feel about meeting with that couple, their paperwork hasn’t been finalized yet, but it is slightly important, from my perspective.” This was what usually happened whenever she called the shelter, her having to explain her reasoning for calling before Miriel would even consider speaking to her about the matter at hand. “It involves that child that was abandoned at the hospital yesterday when the mother refused to take him home with her, I was wondering if you’d heard anything more about him?”

It wasn’t a case that Maribelle was working on, but it was one that she’d heard about from one of her co-workers the previous evening, as they were closing up the office for the night. A newborn baby had been left right inside the front doors of the hospital, the mother claiming that she had no time to take care of him and would rather leave him where he would be cared for. Since she did leave him at a safe place, it wasn’t the worst outcome, but her refusing to acknowledge that she’d done it until the police were at her door to arrest her for child abandonment because she hadn’t told anyone she was going to leave the child there, that was what had gotten their law office involved. Maribelle knew that infants usually were adopted right away in Ylisstol, and this one being abandoned at hours old was not a normal occurrence.

That was why she called the person in charge of the safest, most caring shelter in town to see if she’d heard anything more on the matter, because if anyone was going to be pulled into the situation it would be Miriel and Libra. “He’s still there for more observation, did you not hear that the mother wasn’t to be discharged yesterday at all, and the boy was far too weak to be out in the real world. But I have been contacted by the hospital about helping care for him until we can find a permanent home for him, yes.”

“That’s what I was curious about, the permanent home thing. I…I hope that it all works out for him, from what I heard the mother was a real piece of work and she didn’t set her child up for success at all.” What she’d heard was second-hand and from the lawyer asked to defend the mother’s actions, and if the lawyer was not impressed with the client’s behavior then there was little chance that the defense was going to go anywhere. “You’ll let me know when anything happens involving him, won’t you? I’d love to see the little guy if I can, he’s got to have all our support if he’s going to succeed.”

“I can keep you informed, most definitely. Now, will you let me get back to what I was doing? Mental enrichment needs to happen today and this conversation is keeping the children from getting it.” They exchanged their farewells and the call ended, Maribelle sighing once her phone was back on its dock. She’d been hoping to use talking with Miriel as a distraction from what she had left to do before she could go home, but the call had been so short and to the point that it hadn’t really accomplished that.

The only thing it did do was give Maribelle the fleeting idea that maybe, just maybe, she could have a hand in finding a home for that child. It wasn’t an idea worth entertaining, she wasn’t meant for that line of work, the most she did on the matter was custody battles that determined which parent a child could live with. Finding a family to raise an abandoned baby as their own wasn’t anywhere close to one of her job tasks, but at the same time, she wasn’t a lawyer that dealt with surrogacy cases until the one she’d gotten roped into being part of, so things could change if needed.

The distraction was over and that meant getting back to work, but no sooner had she opened up the case file for a higher-profile abuse case did the receptionist poke his head in the office, telling her that there was an urgent call on the line for her, from someone who’d introduced himself as her father. Taken by surprise at the possibility that her father, that had basically ceased contact with her for years because of who she’d married being underneath her station, was calling her at work, she waved him out of the doorway and picked the phone back up, giving her standard greeting and waiting for the response. When she was met with nothing but a sigh of relief, she felt her chest tighten as she began brainstorming everything that could be going on to warrant the call. “W-what is this about?” she asked, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible as she spoke.

“Mari, I’m so thankful to hear your voice right now.” That was unmistakably her father speaking to her, sounding as snooty as always with how he addressed her. “When I watched the report on the news a bit ago I knew there was a chance our last interaction would have been a negative one, but I had hope that you were fine after all.”

“Report? What report?” She’d been so wrapped up in work and work-related business that she hadn’t tried talking to anyone outside of the office all day, and now her mind was starting to jump to even more painful conclusions. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to be more specific about what you’re referring to. I don’t know—”

“You mean no one’s called you up until now? Mari, sweetie, I find that hard to believe.” She wanted to retort that she was at work and that she was basically cut off from everyone unless they called her work phone, but before she went through with that she grabbed her personal phone and turned it on, waiting to see what was on it to decide how to respond. “What kind of friends have you surrounded yourself with if none of them have had the human decency to call you now that your home is on the news?”

As her phone came on and started showing multiple missed calls and messages, too many to even get a hold on who had tried calling her, Maribelle felt the tightness in her chest become almost unbearable, time around her slowing down as she tried to make sense of what was going on. “It’s on the news?” she repeated, her voice pitching higher than it usually did, even in moments of stress. “Tell me right now what’s going on, my phone’s been off all day because I’ve been working and I didn’t know anything was happening! Did someone break in? Were we robbed? But that’s not news-worthy, I don’t know what would be, please just tell me what’s going on so I know!”

“Calm down, calm down, it’ll all turn out okay in the end, but not if you panic.” She wasn’t sure what else she should have been doing right then, these vague references to what was going on upsetting her more than being told in simple terms would have. “I’d suggest you get home and see what’s left to salvage, the report said the flames were mostly contained but…you never know what damage that means.”

 _Flames_. Fire. Her mind immediately jumped to what she’d done that morning before she’d left for work, but she couldn’t remember having done anything that would result in fire, no stoves left on or things left plugged in that could overheat. “M-my house is…?” she managed to spit out, before realizing something very strange about the situation, despite it seeming like everyone else had tried contacting her personal phone rather than her work one (because it was a bit odd that she was at work that day, admittedly). “Wait, how would you know where I live? I’ve never told you!”

“They mentioned you specifically on the broadcast. Not the reporter on scene, the neighbor that was there watching the place burn. Mentioned you and that husband of yours, said that you both hadn’t been seen all day and it was most likely you were both unaware of what was going on.” Her father sighed, and she knew that he was looking for something else to say to make the situation seem less painful than it was. “How no one guessed you were at work and I had to be the one to break this to you, I don’t know.”

Closing her eyes as she thought about her time at the house that morning once more, Maribelle sharply inhaled when she noticed that there was something else amiss about the situation. “Vaike shouldn’t have had anywhere else to go today, he shouldn’t have been anywhere but the house, he should have been able to stop this before it started and he should have known where I was to tell me what was happening!” Her words came with the unfortunate consequence of her father breaking into a long-winded spiel about how he wasn’t a good man and that she deserved better than that, but in the moment Maribelle couldn’t be bothered to care about her father’s opinion on who she loved.

It was probably not the best idea to hang up on him, throw all her case files aside, and leave the office almost immediately, but the receptionist seemed to know what was going on already and wished her the best in handling whatever she was about to walk into. When she got out to her car she took a look through all the calls and messages she’d received, varying in tone from “hey your house is on fire” to “you haven’t replied to me yet and I’m starting to think you’re dead, please tell me you’re okay I can’t lose you”, and as much as she wanted to reply to each of them she knew she needed to get home and see the damage for herself, just in case this was all some prank everyone had banded together to pull off. But that idea of it possibly being a prank was thwarted by her father’s involvement, as there were exactly two people who’d tried contacting her that knew him, and neither of them would have known how to get him on-board with pranking his estranged daughter.

Even still, she had to hope that there was some mistake, some misunderstanding, that there wasn’t any fire and that the neighbor that had mentioned her had gotten where she lived wrong. Their neighborhood wasn’t the nicest place, and they’d done a lot of work in close to six years to fix up the house they’d bought, so the chances of someone mistaking where they lived for someone else’s home were almost as slim as the chance it was an elaborate prank. As she started driving, she could feel herself trembling in her seat, the fear of what was waiting for her when she got home beginning to get to her. “Seriously, Maribelle? It’s not actually happening, you can’t prove anything’s going on,” she told herself, before deciding she’d put on some music to calm her nerves while she drove.

It was a perfect distraction, listening to upbeat and peppy music that had no business being as catchy as it was, but even though she knew every word to each song that played as she drove back towards the house, she couldn’t bring herself to sing along to any of them. But as good of a distraction as it was, it wasn’t enough to keep her from freaking out as she got closer to the neighborhood and could see thick, black smoke billowing up from somewhere in the middle of all the houses. When she had to make a stop, she closed her eyes for a moment and prayed that she’d get home and there’d just be some large misunderstanding, but she figured her prayers might be too late and that she’d have lost everything she called her own.

She wasn’t able to get any closer to the scene than a street over, police cars blocking the area from all onlookers, but she knew that she wasn’t an “onlooker” and needed to be allowed to get closer. Despite the heavy smoke in the area, she found herself getting out of her car and approaching the officers sitting and blocking the way, she didn’t immediately recognize any of them as being anyone she knew, and she wasn’t sure how she’d convince anyone that she lived in the blocked-off area, but she was going to try anyway. Right as she was within range of starting conversation with one officer, she could see someone coming towards the blockade from the other side, waving his arms frantically in the air and calling out to get someone’s attention.

Instead of speaking to her, the officers there at the road block looked at who was calling for them, and all stood at attention as Lon’qu came up to them, before pointing at Maribelle and telling the officers, “Let her drive into the area, I don’t care if you haven’t checked her identification or anything, she’s needed in here right now.” She didn’t even wait to see their reactions before she ran back over to her car, getting in and starting back up as the blockade opened up just enough for her to pass it, only for it to close once she was on the other side. Lon’qu came up to her driver’s side window and motioned for her to roll it down, something she did without question. “It isn’t a total loss, if that’s what you’re afraid of, but what’s happened is something you’ll have to see with your own two eyes. Mind giving me a ride back to the house, now that you’re on your way?”

She nodded to give him his answer, and soon he was in the seat next to hers, taking advantage of the relatively clean air inside the car. “How were you right where I needed you to be right there?” she asked, as she drove up the street, the smoke outside getting thicker every second. “I was wondering who I was going to have to beat up to let me get through, but then you just showed up out of nowhere.”

“I’d been told this was your preferred way onto the street, and with the blockades up to keep people from getting in harm’s way I knew you’d need someone to let you in. Panne volunteered to be the one to do it, but there are better places for her to be right now than where I am.” Even though they were in a moving vehicle and both knew the law pretty well, he hadn’t bothered buckling himself in as they drove, which was allowing for him to sit at an angle in the seat, almost as if he was ready to jump out at any moment. “It’s a miracle that no one was at the house when this happened, but we can only wonder if someone being there would have stopped this sooner.”

“What do you mean, no one was there? Where was Vaike in all of this?” Knowing that he hadn’t been home brought peace to Maribelle’s mind, if only for a moment, because now she needed answers about something else. “Please tell me that this wasn’t his fault, if it was I’ll…I’ll kill him, I swear to you I will.”

“There’s no need for that, the fire originated at the house next to yours and merely spread faster than it could be stopped, the only thing him being home would have done was maybe get the fire department involved sooner. It wasn’t until it spread to the house on the other side of the initial fire that they were called, which was far too late to save the first house, and—” Lon’qu stopped speaking abruptly as Maribelle slammed on the brakes of her car, the smoldering buildings now visible in front of them and causing her to cry out in distress. “—yes, I know, it’s a lot to take in from this angle. Park so you can get out and see what happened for yourself.”

In her currently upset mind, Maribelle took the directions to mean throw the car into park where it was, but she had to have the actual direction of move to park along the sidewalk explained to her so that she didn’t abandon her car somewhere it shouldn’t be. When she went to get out of the car, her legs were shaking so much that she couldn’t bring herself to stand, and when she went to ask Lon’qu to help her he was already gone, disappeared into the smoke and obscured by one of the multiple large vehicles nearby. Slowly she managed to get to her feet and then the task became to find the people she was looking for, a real challenge with how much was going on there in that moment, and she was stopped by a firefighter handing her a mask to block out the smoke before she found anyone.

“You must not have gotten my call until too late,” Panne said as she saw Maribelle stumble to being right next to her, her arms wrapped around a pile of clothing that had hangers falling out of some of the shirts. “Don’t worry, I managed to get out some things for you to wear after all this, specifically work-appropriate things. With all the other things you’ll have to be focusing on in the coming weeks, I think knowing you won’t need to get a new wardrobe will be nice.”

“I’m sorry, you went into the burning house and grabbed my clothes for me? What about anything actually important? Documents? Pictures? Anything like that?” Since her hands were full, Panne had to use a foot to motion towards a box sitting next to her on the curb, which seemed to be overflowing with things of the nature that Maribelle had just asked about. “Okay, that’s good at least. Clothes can be replaced, some of that stuff can’t.”

“We happened to be on our way here when we saw the smoke, by the time we arrived the fire had started to take hold on the house but we ran inside anyway, against our better judgment.” Pursing her lips together as she looked at what she was holding, Panne chuckled before she explained what else they’d done. “I went straight to your bedroom, to get your clothing, and Lon’qu met me in there after he’d grabbed some of your pictures and everything that he assumed you’d want as keepsakes, which he’d already put into a box for easy carrying. Before we could go get anything out of your bathroom, though, that was when the room started to fill with smoke and we had to get out immediately.”

“What were you two doing in there, though? Where was my husband in all of this? If you got the clothes and Lon’qu grabbed what he thought were important memories, what was there for Vaike to be doing?” Bending down to look through what all had been retrieved from the house when they had the chance, Maribelle’s legs collapsed out from underneath her in all of the panic and she found herself there on the street, almost faceplanting into the box. Unable to laugh it off, she just sighed and picked herself back up before beginning to go through what had been saved.

Panne, meanwhile, had tightened her grip on the clothing she was still holding, not wanting to set any of it down and dirty it up. “Well, for starters, he did assist Lon’qu in getting some of those things, they went off together when I went to the bedroom and I guess he started the box for Lon’qu to use. After that…” Her voice trailed into silence, or into soft enough mumbling that the sounds of the hectic scene around them drowned her out.

“After that what? I haven’t seen him, but no one’s said he’s dead so I’ve got to believe that he isn’t, please just tell me what he did!” Her eyes fixated on a picture that she hadn’t seen in years, from during their wedding, Maribelle was trying her best not to lose what little hope she had left about where her husband was in all of this. “He’s a meathead and a dumbass but I know he wouldn’t let himself get trapped in a burning house, not when he knew I’d be waiting for him once he got out!”

“Maribelle, I don’t know exactly how I should say what he did after entrusting Lon’qu with everything he felt needed to be saved in his opinion. I think it’s something that he would be better at explaining for himself.” Finally giving up on keeping the clothing clean and sitting down for herself, Panne watched the light appear in Maribelle’s eyes as she processed what had been said. “But since you’re so curious, he filled our car to capacity with stuff, he was dedicated to running in and out, back and forth, making sure that as many of your books and papers were saved as possible before he had to refrain from reentering.”

That was something that was clearly missing from the box of pictures and important files, any sign of any book that she’d called back to time and time again after her college days. “He thought of me and my little law library when faced with limited chances to save anything in the house? Are you serious?”

“What trapped him inside wasn’t anything of yours, I can promise you that.” Realizing what she’d just said, Panne saw the expression on Maribelle’s face darken once more, losing all sign of the happiness she’d found in that one moment. “No, no, don’t jump to the worst possibility when I tell you that he did get stuck in the house, he’d remembered too late that there was something of his own in there that he wanted and charged back inside, and when the roof started to fall in he had to fight his way out, which he wasn’t equipped to do and he had to be rescued by the firefighters on scene.”

“Let me guess, he’s dying now because of it?”

“Quite the opposite, really. Came out screaming that he’d managed to get almost everything that mattered to both of you out before the place collapsed on itself, seemed perfectly fine without a scratch on him. They had no reason to assume he’d gotten hurt at all while inside, although they did check him out, just in case.” With the meat of the information given out, Panne turned her attention away from Maribelle and looked around at all of the emergency vehicles still on the scene, the smoke still thick and seemingly getting thicker. “If I recall, Lon’qu said that he would try to keep Vaike from talking too much to any reporters milling around here, but knowing him he’s most likely gone back to the blockade and is talking with someone there. You might want to see if you can find your husband in all of this.”

The idea was tempting, but Maribelle knew that getting back to her feet would be nothing short of a miracle in her panicked state. “He can come find us whenever he’s ready, as long as he isn’t dead that’s what matters to me.” She wasn’t going to think too much about what had gone wrong, it wasn’t either of their faults and it wasn’t anything they could have really controlled happening, and with all of these memories in a box right in front of her she was going to have plenty of fodder for distracting herself.

Alas, all distractions could only be so effective, and when she heard a voice she recognized only from watching the evening news sometimes she immediately shot to attention, looking to see where the reporter was coming at her from. “Behind you, ma’am,” the woman said, the sound of footsteps and wires being dragged across the concrete giving away the location; Maribelle looked over her shoulder to see the friendly-faced reporter, wearing a protective mask over her mouth to aid in breathing, standing right there waiting for her. “Would you mind coming with us for a brief interview? This loss of property is tragic and I’ve been informed you live in one of these residences, so we are quite interested in hearing what you have to say.”

Knowing that if she said anything, with knowing so little beyond what she’d been told by her friends and her father, she could make a fool out of herself, Maribelle politely shook her head to deny the offer. “No thank you, I’d like to be able to speak to my husband about this before I speak with the media.”

“That’s fine, no worries!” The reporter winked at her before ushering her cameraman away from the scene, talking about going and getting another live shot of the still-burning buildings, and in their wake Maribelle sighed and turned back to the box of things. She should have at least given an attempt at doing an interview, just so that they could hear how she felt and so that any of her friends that weren’t present could know that she was okay.

It wasn’t long after their departure that a pair of hands wrapped their way around the back of Maribelle’s neck, squeezing her tightly to get her attention, but she didn’t turn as easily as she had for the reporter. “You’re lucky ya weren’t here with us when we first got t’the scene,” Vaike said despite it seeming like she wasn’t paying any attention to him. “Pretty sure none ‘a us knew what t’do ‘bout anythin’, but we had t’get inside and save whatever we could. Aren’t ya glad we saved all this stuff?”

Her heart had picked up at the sound of his voice and she found herself unable to speak, unable to tell him how thankful she was that they’d gotten there when they did and had been able to salvage anything. However, Panne was right there and was able to be her voice for a moment. “You know that she’s glad we saved everything, you should have been here when I told her about the books and how you trapped yourself in the house to get your things after getting those for her.”

“Heh, yeah, but what else was I gonna do? She wasn’t here t’get anythin’ for herself, we had t’do that for her.” Now she was tilting her head back to look up at Vaike, at his completely ash-covered face, hair, and clothes, and seeing him actually there made everything feel partially okay in the moment. Sure, they’d just lost their home and all their belongings that hadn’t been easy to retrieve, but they had each other and their friends and that was what mattered right then. Her eyes started welling up with tears and he gasped at the sight, letting go of her neck and crouching down to get his face right next to hers. “Hey now, none ‘a this cryin’, okay? It’s a bad time, I get it, but we’ve gotta be strong. We aren’t left with nothin’ and we’ve got places we can go while we get back on our feet. It ain’t the end of the world.”

“I know it’s not the end of the world, but it’s…bad, it’s really bad.” For the first time the gravity of the whole situation had completely sank in, the fact that he’d risked his life to save things for himself after sending their friends in to save things for her, the fact that the house they’d bought and restored and made their own was no longer theirs, the fact that they were out in the smoke, waiting for the flames to clear so they could see what was left of the place they’d called home. “I’m not sure how I’m going to handle this, Vaike, I’m just not.”

“Y’know what, that’s fine, I totally get ya on that.” He stood back up, checking the surrounding area for something in specific but not seeming to find it, based on how he was right back down next to her. “D’ya think we can move this stuff into your car, since ya obviously drove yourself here? My truck’s at their place, so at least my work stuff survived the fire, and I think I got all your things that you’d ever need after this, but the box and your clothes wouldn’t fit in the other car with all those books and the other things I saved.”

“Yeah, I suppose we can do that.” Even though she didn’t want to get up, Maribelle was helped to her feet, before she helped Panne up to hers (since Vaike was simply covered in ash and didn’t want to dirty the clothing she was holding more than it already had been from being in the smoke), and the three of them worked together to get the box of belongings and the clothing down to where the car had been parked. The air seemed to be a little less thick while they were putting things into the trunk, and once they all had their hands free they made their way back over closer to the scene, supporting each other the whole way there.

They hung there by the curb for the longest time, waiting for anything to happen that changed how the scene felt to them, air heavy and nothing but the sound of sirens surrounding them. At one point, Lon’qu came to them and mentioned going home for a little bit to unload their belongings, and that he’d come back when that was taken care of, and the only person who reacted even slightly was Panne, who merely nodded at what he’d said. His time away was when the scene started to change, the fire finally subdued and all the afflicted houses in the stage of just mopping up any hot spots. As the smoke finally lifted on the area, more and more of the chaos in the street became visible, the sheer number of firetrucks that had been called to fight the flames able to be counted.

From where they were, Maribelle could see that half of the house was completely uncharred, while the other half had sustained damage that rendered it impossible to recognize. It was different than the one next to it, or the one next to that, in that it still _looked_ like a house, even if it was only half of one. In the time she spent frozen as she was staring at the sight, the reporter from before came up to the three of them, cameraman right behind. “Is now a bad time to get a live reaction?” the reporter asked, looking between all of them to see if anyone would grant her the opportunity to do an interview.

When Panne replied by stepping away, saying that she was going to see if Lon’qu was back, and Maribelle was still too much in shock to be able to formulate any coherent thoughts, much less words, Vaike was the one who shrugged and said that they could do one right then. “I’ve been talkin’ t’ya since ya got here, it’s only fair that I talk t’ya now,” he explained, the reporter eagerly nodding before setting up the positioning for her interview, wanting to get the shells of the houses in the background as they spoke about how they felt about what had happened to them there that day.

So much had gone on that Maribelle honestly lost track of what time it was and what was taking place there after a while, and she only caught back up to speed with her surroundings when she was being asked if she was fine with leaving the area for the night. There wasn’t any timeline for when they’d be able to enter what they still had of a house and waiting around all night to see if they could get in or not wasn’t a proper use of time, and rather than admit that she’d gotten completely absorbed in her thoughts and had been moving on auto-pilot from the time the interview ended until that moment, she merely agreed to the suggestion. Leaving the blocked-off area in a silent car, with two men who weren’t saying anything but were just letting what they’d had to deal with sink in, she knew that she was now following Panne’s lead for at least a little bit, her having wanted to drive by herself and no one questioning the request as it happened.

But once they got to their house, what was going to happen after that? Were they going to be told to pack all of their salvaged things up and go find somewhere to stay, or did they have room with them for the time being? The answer to that was that they were more than welcome to stay there as long as needed, but that they couldn’t stay forever and if they decided they wanted to stay elsewhere they had every right to do so. That was what Lon’qu said before they got out of the car, him seeming to already know what Panne would say if she were asked about it, and he did it unprompted, no one having asked about how long they’d be allowed to stay there.

“Just…know that you may see or hear things you wouldn’t expect to, coming from us,” he cautioned before they all got out of the car, him going into the house much faster than either of the others could manage with how shell-shocked they were. When they did get inside, no longer just coming to visit like usual but rather to stay for some undetermined amount of time, Lon’qu was already sitting on the floor, eyes closed as he faced the wall in silence. They had to walk past him and, after checking everywhere else that they had access to and finding no sign of Panne, go back to join him in the room, Maribelle taking a seat next to him while Vaike remained standing, not wanting to touch too much while still ashy.

“I don’t know what you were referring to outside, but I’m not going to judge either of you if you decide you’re going to have a good time while we’re here,” Maribelle said, leaning in close to Lon’qu, only to get pushed away before she had a chance to say anything else. “Hey, what else was I supposed to take what you said as?”

He dropped his hand and went back to being completely still, minus the movement of his mouth as he spoke. “A warning, nothing more. I’m surprised in all of the conversations you and Panne have had, she’s never mentioned a specific detail about our lives.”

“Detail, huh? Guess I’ll have to ask her next time something we end up talking about comes up.” It was light-hearted banter but even still, the gravity of everything that had happened before it was weighing down on Maribelle’s chest. She was trying her best to not let it all get to her too much, not think too hard about what had happened, but even her best wasn’t going to be good enough, and she sighed, moving away from Lon’qu but staying seated on the ground because she couldn’t think of anywhere else to be.

A few minutes later, Panne came into the room freshly cleaned, showing that where she’d disappeared to in the time between her getting home and the other car’s arrival was to take a shower. It was clear that she was trying to not laugh at something, but with the heavy air that had settled over everyone else she was making a valiant effort to stay straight-faced despite thinking something hilarious. To work around it, she made the suggestion for everyone else to go take showers and get the smell of smoke off of themselves—and therefore out of her house—before it became impossible to fight with.

The thought of having to shower somewhere that wasn’t her own bathroom made tears start to form in Maribelle’s eyes, but she was spared from having to go face that issue right then as the person most affected by the smoke and dirt decided he would go first. After making sure he’d have everything he needed, Panne came back to join the other two, her face showing that she was even closer to the breaking point of laughing loudly. “How convenient, that he decides he’s going to leave us first,” she said, a few chuckles escaping her before she completely dissolved into laughter. “I never knew that I’d find this so funny, and it’s a shame I learned it this way, but here we are anyway.”

“What in Naga’s name are you laughing about?” Lon’qu did not sound too pleased that he was hearing laughter in their current situation, but Maribelle wasn’t minding it too much, finding that it was a break from the heaviness. “Please, if you’re going to act inconsiderate about the loss everyone’s endured today, you can share what’s so funny with us.”

“I think we’ll hear about it soon enough, I’d turned the radio on while showering to keep an ear towards any developments at the scene and their coverage, while it leaves much to be desired, is quite humorous in that it insists on properly naming everyone they play sound clips from.” Trying her hardest to not laugh as she explained, Panne did add that she hadn’t turned the radio off when she directed a certain someone to where the shower was, which Maribelle knew would mean trouble if what she’d said was true.

Based on the loudly-screamed “no!” that echoed through the house not even a full minute later, there was no reason to doubt what Panne had said, and soon enough a towel-clad Vaike came running into the room, still dripping with water and looking furious. “Okay, which one ‘a ya told ‘em, huh? Why’re they sayin’ _that_ on the news? Why can’t they just call me what everyone else in the whole damn world calls me?”

“I don’t know what the issue is,” Panne replied, once again on the verge of laughing but knowing that showing that she thought the situation hilarious would be horrible. “You have a lovely-sounding name, I’d be curious to know what spelling it’s been given if you don’t mind me asking about it. I’ve seen plenty of boys in and out of pediatrics with different variations of the name, it’s not a bad name by any means.”

“Not bad t’ya, but I’ve always hated knowin’ that it’s legally mine.” Shaking a finger towards Panne as his other hand gripped the towel he was wearing to keep it from falling, he slowly backed away towards where he’d ran from. “Not a single one ‘a ya that knows the answer to what she wants tell her, I’ve got a feelin’ she’ll use this against me if she learns how t’spell it.”

The moment they all heard him close the first door between them and the shower, Panne shrugged her shoulders and said, “He isn’t wrong, but I won’t use it against him however he thinks I plan to. I already know how to say it, that’s all I really need, but being able to spell it would have its perks.”

Maribelle was slightly tempted to give her what she wanted, but with all the things that had been on her mind that evening the last thing that she was actually thinking of was how to spell Vaike’s first name. That was an issue, because even though he didn’t use it, it was still his legal name and if anything were to happen it was what he’d be identified with. She was about to admit to her failure when Lon’qu spoke, saving her from the hole she’d found herself stuck in. “He spells it a-y, e-n. Since I’m sure those are the two points in the name you’re confused about.”

“Here I was, thinking he’d have some creative and unique spelling to it that made him despise the thing. He’s just super attached to his last name, isn’t he?” Panne disappeared into the kitchen for a moment after that, coming back with a piece of paper and a pen in her hand. “Now, time to make him fearful of what else I may do with this information, anyone else interested in assisting me?”

“What are you thinking of doing?” Already worrying that whatever it was Panne was planning, it was going to destroy their friendship and make Vaike choose to go stay somewhere else rather than there with them, Maribelle wanted to know what she’d be helping with before she committed. But when Panne told her what it was, calling it a “housewarming gift” for their stay there, she found herself completely okay with the idea, if only because it seemed like the perfect thing to make the whole ugly situation not hurt as much as it did.

Nothing was going to take away from the fact that they’d lost their house, that the place they’d made together had partially burned and wasn’t going to be livable anymore. Nothing would replace the memories they’d made there, the things they’d never be able to get back, any of it. What they had now was their friendships, and in the following days they were sure they’d get a good feel for everyone that still cared about them as offers of assistance and places to stay would most likely be made. They had their lives, most everything that mattered most to them, each other, and the friends they were now staying with. They had so much more than what a fire could take from them.

But there was something magical about watching Vaike come back to rejoin them and be gestured towards a hastily-scribbled note that had been attached to the banner hanging on the wall, that was done in a similar style although completely handwritten. Hearing him demand to know who’d told Panne what he’d specifically asked them not to say, watching as he tore around the room looking for a pen and coming up empty-handed, sighing in resignation at the fact that he couldn’t change what had been written, it was the light-hearted kind of fun that didn’t feel appropriate on such a bad day. They weren’t permanent residents there, but as long as they were staying at the house it was only fitting that there was some kind of decoration up on the wall for them.

“Let’s not make callin’ me that name a regular thin’ though, I’m beggin’ ya,” Vaike said, looking straight at Panne as she was once again trying not to laugh. “I get that the radio people used it, but I don’t know ‘em like I know ya.”

“I’ll consider it,” she replied, a sly smile on her lips. “I really don’t see the problem you have with it, it’s not a bad name at all. Why, if I didn’t know of so many children named similarly, I’d possibly use it for one of my own children someday. And maybe I still will, who knows? Can you imagine that, a little Brayden running around here, with you to blame for his name?” What she’d said did three things simultaneously: it made Vaike grumble something about some bad experience he’d had with his name, it made Maribelle think about how she’d never had _that_ idea before when she was so baby-minded, and it made Lon’qu put a stop to the possibility by saying that he’d never go for it, not in a million years, and that it wouldn’t happen anyway given their luck on the matter.

It always came back to luck, didn’t it?


	10. The Four-Leaf Clover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: medical issues

Getting used to living in someone else’s house for an extended amount of time wasn’t easy for people who’d been living in their own place for nearly five years, but until they were able to get any kind of money from losing their house there wasn’t much that they could do aside from stay with their friends. It didn’t seem that anyone really minded the shared space, even if it meant that four very different people with different lifestyles were stuck under the same roof, and because of the shared living area they all became closer as a whole, starting to break the boundaries of specific friendships to the point that all four of them knew everyone else as well as all the others.

This meant that, a month or so after the fire, when Panne came home with a bandage wrapped around part of her forearm, nobody had to ask what it was that it was covering—and instead the reactions to the sight were distraught, upset, hurt. “Adding to my design happens more frequently than you’d realize, it becomes second nature to me to immediately schedule an appointment whenever I…” She didn’t finish her sentence when she saw that the reactions she’d gotten were not changing, and instead doubled back to clear the air. “Did you think that this was all said and done? I have never once given up on trying to have a child, it’s merely a long and almost exclusively failed process.”

“When were you going to tell anyone that you were trying anytime recently?” Maribelle asked, trying to look more at Panne’s face than her arm, but her curiosity was there about how much had been added to the scattered tattoos she’d always shown off. “That’s kind of a big deal, don’t you think?”

“I’ve made it a point to never tell anyone until after the loss has happened, with the particular method of conception we use the failure rate seems to be abnormally high for us and there’s never been a single time where we’ve gotten to any safe point.” Looking at her arm for herself, Panne traced over a few of the freckle-like marks before moving her hand up to take off the bandage covering it, revealing three more dots added to the collection, all the same size and shape as the majority of the others. “However, soon here there will be no way to add to this, unless we want to spend even more money or we want to make the futile attempt to do it naturally.”

It wasn’t until that moment that Maribelle understood that all of these losses that Panne had endured, the reason why she could have so many marks on her arm to notate all sorts of lost children, was because she knew exactly how many potential children she was going to have each time she went into things. “You’ve never tried doing it naturally? Shouldn’t you have, I mean that’s kind of a good starting point, don’t you think?”

“If it were possible we would have, but that would require forcing Lon’qu outside of his comfort zone and as I already know my own body’s limitations I wouldn’t dream of doing that to him.” She wasn’t tracing anymore, but she was still looking at all of her marks, grouping them up mentally and thinking about how many times she’d been in this position before this, even in the time since she and Maribelle had become friends and shared their heartbreak with each other. “Going through an assisted method was our only option, but even after so many attempts we’re still empty-handed. We have exactly one try left before we’re at a crossroads and I…I want to believe that we will get what we want this next time.”

“Just have t’hope, right?” Even though he wasn’t entirely sure what was being discussed, Vaike did know enough about the whole ordeal to know that him giving words of positivity would be appreciated. The reaction Panne gave him seemed to confirm that idea, but when her face fell immediately after he’d looked away he would have realized that she was only trying to convince him that he was right.

“If you want anyone to be there to support you, I’ll gladly do it,” Maribelle offered, her mind focused on how to make her friend’s mood change back to positive, even in a bad time in her life. “I mean, you’re supporting us by letting us stay here, the least I could try to do would be go with you when you deal with all this.”

Instead of replying, Panne merely walked further into the house and ignored the conversation as a whole, leaving the couple left unsure of what they’d said or done wrong to deepen how upset their friend was. Chasing her down to see what they could change about how they approached everything was a possibility, but it ran the risk of them making her more upset with them, and doing that could lead to them getting kicked out and needing to find somewhere else to stay. So they had to just accept that they’d gone into the conversation the wrong way and there wasn’t any way they could fix it—something that Maribelle didn’t particularly like doing when it came to someone she cared so much about.

That was fine, though, because Panne had her own idea for getting Maribelle caught up as to what had gone wrong, and that came later that night, after they’d all gathered for an awkward dinner and the guys had decided to go out and drive around to have a talk of their own. “I want you to know that I appreciate the idea of you coming to any of the appointments with me, but I’ve never taken anyone but Lon’qu to any of them and the idea slightly terrifies me,” she admitted, sitting against her bed with Maribelle right next to her. “It also runs the risk of you getting your own ideas and I have to caution you against trying things this way unless you need to. It’s painful, time-consuming, and more heartbreaking than losing just one child at a time.”

“I’m sure that you’re not lying to me, but why are you trying to convince me to not want to go with you?” Patting her hands against her thighs, Maribelle wasn’t sure of the full extent of what she’d be exposed to if she accompanied her anywhere, but she was positive that it wouldn’t be a bad time. “You need a friend to go with you to things like that, and I’m willing to be that friend. We share the…the emotional bond when it comes to losing children, I can handle being there when you’re trying for one.”

“You’re doing the thing I typically do when I’m speaking about this,” Panne said, watching how Maribelle’s hands were moving. “Touching somewhere on your body while trying to distract yourself from the memories the discussion could provoke. Except, of course, I touch my arm where my memorial to the lost opportunities are, you’re just touching your legs; is there any reason why you’re not, say, touching where _your_ memorial is?”

Without even hesitating for a second as she came up with an answer, Maribelle continued hitting her thighs as she tilted her head to one side, her hair falling off of one shoulder as she did so. “Because touching my back in a situation like this would be awkward, and besides I try to forget that I have that there. It wasn’t my idea, I didn’t even want to go through with it, and I hate that you all think it was good for me to get it.”

“Yours being somewhere that you cannot see on a daily basis is good for your healing process, it shows that you’ve got what you’ve lost in mind but you don’t want it at the forefront of your daily life.” Reaching to pull down the back of Maribelle’s shirt, without her permission, Panne exposed the top part of what looked to be a heart etched into her skin before she was kindly asked to leave it alone. “Right, sorry, I just think the design you went with is so lovely and simple, and perfect for you as a person.”

“It represents dead children, Panne, I don’t know how ‘perfect’ it can really be.” Closing her eyes, Maribelle thought about how the decision to go through with getting two intertwined hearts tattooed onto her shoulder had been made, and how she had been firmly against it up until the moment she’d been taken to the shop to get it done. When she’d felt the needle pushing against her skin she’d begun to understand that what she was doing was showing that the children she’d lost were gone but never forgotten, but that meaning was only something that those involved in the design process were aware of. The artist giving her the tattoo had no idea, nor did anyone else at the shop, it was something that they thought was just being done as a show of art.

But mentioning that it was a lovely design was ignoring the fact that it had a deeper meaning to it, and she was certain that Panne knew that. However, that very reason might have been why she’d personally gone with an arm covered with freckle-like dots, because it was merely functional with meaning, no beauty attached to it. “It’s perfect in that it shows you loved them while you had them and loved them more after you’d lost them. And, when the time comes for you to have a living child of your own, they’ll never have to know there’s a deeper meaning behind it.”

“Like that will ever happen,” Maribelle said with a laugh, her thoughts wandering down that path once more. She’d basically accepted that being a parent wasn’t in the cards for her, that she wasn’t meant to be a mother but rather just a mother-figure for children in need, but she’d be lying to herself and everyone around her if she said she didn’t have the desire to raise her own kid. So many people that she knew had kids of their own, one way or another, and she wasn’t satisfied with being someone who didn’t find some way to make it happen for herself. In fact, she’d been the reason _for_ someone ending up adopting a child, even if she hadn’t meant to do it, and every day someone didn’t do that for her was another day she was left wishing for a child she wasn’t ever going to have. “That would require getting Vaike down for the idea, and we both know he’s not interested whatsoever.”

“While I know you’re right about that, I do want you to keep in mind that Lon’qu and I have never had any physical commitment to one another and we’re still both passionate about having a family, I’m sure if you brought it up with your husband he would slowly come around to alternative ideas.” What Panne didn’t know was that if Maribelle did try talking to him about it, she’d be reminded of the bad things that had happened the last two times they’d gotten anywhere, and her being hurt about all of that was why he didn’t want to give anything another shot. Some people were just set in their ways and there was no changing it, no matter how anyone tried.

For Maribelle, that was just how things were going to be and she’d been trying so hard to just accept it fully, but when she had positive, hopeful voices in her ear trying to tell her otherwise, she wasn’t ever going to give up on her dreams of being a mother. The desire only managed to make itself start to grow larger in the following weeks of them living there, as they started getting deep into the search of finding somewhere else to call home. As they’d be looking at floorplans of new houses, or flipping through magazine listings for townhomes and apartments that were within budget, Maribelle would instinctively shut down any suggestions that felt “too small” to her, under the reasoning of needing places for friends to spend time if they came over.

That may have been what she said, but what she felt was that they needed the room just in case they did end up with a child in their lives. The way she insisted upon it was just convincing enough that Vaike didn’t question it until he’d found a place they could move into that same week that had a single bedroom, but two large living areas that would have plenty of room for all of their friends to hang out in, and she shot it down without blinking. “What’s up with that, huh?” he asked, showing her in specific the part about the two rooms. “Ain’t that what you’ve been askin’ for every time, place for friends? There’s your space, and this place looks like it’d be perfect for us, why are ya sayin’ no to it?”

“It just doesn’t feel like it would be a nice place to live,” she replied, still trying to keep her true intent under wraps. “Besides, it’s got room to hang out, but what if a guest wants to sleep over? Do we tell them to take the couch?”

“So it’s a guest room you’re wantin’, got it.” Shaking his head as he set off to search for somewhere that would fit this new specification, Vaike made it exactly half a second before he’d caught on to what was actually happening. “Wait, I’ve shown ya all sorts ‘a places that have guest rooms and ya said there wasn’t enough space in any ‘a them either! Why’re ya shootin’ down everywhere that’s perfect for me, you, and the occasional friend? What’re ya hidin’ from me?”

“I’m not hiding anything.” The tone she took on was serious, trying to be as convincing as possible, especially since it was obvious he knew something was up with what she was looking for in a new home. “I’m merely keeping the fact that we have a lot of friends and would need a lot of space in mind, which you’re failing to do.”

He raised his eyebrows at her, closing the magazine they’d been looking through to keep it from becoming a distraction as they discussed. “Let me guess, if I found a place that had three rooms, kinda like this one here—” he waved an arm around to gesture to the house they were currently in, which had the master bedroom, a guest room, and a smaller storage room that was clearly able to be converted into a bedroom if needed, “—you’d accept that ‘cause you’d say there’s enough room in it, am I right?”

“That’s correct, yes,” she said with a nod, “because this is a nice-sized house and would have the room we’d need for anything we’d possibly encounter.”

“Except why would ya want three bedrooms but not a whole lot ‘a livin’ space otherwise?” Still gesturing to the house, now in specific the living room and dining area, which had always felt to be rather small when all four people currently living there were present, Vaike waited to hear Maribelle’s explanation but found her to merely shrug instead of saying anything at all. “I can’t believe ya, Mari, why’re ya doin’ this t’us both? We just need t’find our own place again, we don’t need to be playin’ picky because ya want t’prepare for somethin’ that’s never gonna happen. We need room for us and for friends, nothin’ more than that.”

His refusal to see things her way was frustrating, but Maribelle knew that he’d taken their losses just as hard as she had and he wasn’t going to budge on his stance unless she properly fought him over it. But it was already a stressful experience, needing to find a new place to live, and she didn’t feel right in making it worse by deciding to pick fights with him about them maybe someday properly starting a family and needing to take that into consideration. At that point in time, what they needed to focus on was getting their freedom back and finishing rebuilding their lives from after the fire, on top of everything else that they were dealing with on a day-to-day basis. There wasn’t any point to convincing him to see things her way this one time.

In the end, finding somewhere new to live wasn’t exactly in the cards for them at the moment, based on how they couldn’t decide on anywhere to check out after they’d put aside their stances on the argument. Beyond that, even if they did get a new home, properly furnishing it would cost a pretty penny, something they’d done once in their lives and hadn’t planned on needing to mostly do over again. In the wake of the fire they’d lost almost everything due to smoke and water damage, and what little furniture they did manage to keep was currently in storage, but there wasn’t much a couple dressers and a table and chairs was going to do for them in an empty new place, aside from save them a small amount of money they didn’t actually have.

Moving back out on their own wasn’t even a forced priority, as Panne and Lon’qu were fine with them staying there as long as they needed to and hadn’t changed that position once in the time since the fire. It was clear that there was something going on between them, which Maribelle understood to be something relating to the stresses of their last current round of assisted conception before they had to decide what to do from there, but they didn’t seem to want to talk about it with anyone and were instead keeping to themselves pretty well about everything in their lives.

With everyone living together and typically being open about where they were going to be at any given time, it was a bit jarring for Maribelle come home from a day at the office to an empty house. After making some calls to get a feel for what everyone was going and getting mostly silence, she ended up deciding to turn around leave again for dinner because no one was going to be back for a while and planned on fending for themselves, but it was fine by her as she had elsewhere she could go without feeling like a burden to someone else.

That meant showing up at Lissa’s front door unannounced, something that she’d done many times in the past and would most likely continue doing until she couldn’t any longer. The first sign of something being unusual upon arrival was the presence of an unfamiliar car outside, but because of where it was parked she didn’t immediately assume it had anything to do with where she was. Yet when Lissa opened the door and there was a small, blue-haired girl hanging at her feet, the second sign of something being unusual, Maribelle smiled first at her friend and then at the child that wasn’t her own that was standing there. “Are you doing some babysitting tonight?” she asked as she pulled her eyes off of Cynthia and went back to looking at Lissa directly. “Does this mean getting to spend time with three children to get them out of your hair for a minute?”

“Ha, I’d say I’m babysitting except it isn’t fully true, Sumia’s here with the girls for the night because all the men are out together. I…would have figured you’d have known that, since the guys you live with are there too.” Returning the smile she was being given, Lissa pushed Cynthia back so that Maribelle could come inside, and soon they were in the living room, toys scattered all over the floor and the two younger children sitting in the middle of them all, sharing and playing with each other despite their age difference.

Somewhere in the middle of them walking to the room, Maribelle had admitted that she didn’t know a thing about any outing that was men-only, and Lissa had been more than happy to give every detail she had about the whole thing. As she understood it, someone had thrown around the idea of having a night out at a bar, just so they could all watch some sporting event together, and somehow it had morphed into all sorts of people being invited. “I don’t know why Vaike wouldn’t mention that to me, but I suppose he must’ve forgotten about it until today.” Maribelle’s reaction was one of acceptance but now that she knew why two of the people weren’t at home, and it had been Panne who’d told her that none of them would be back in time for dinner, she wasn’t too bothered by being the one left out. “At any rate, at least I get to spend time here with you, right?”

“Oh yeah, definitely!” Cupping her face with her hands, Lissa’s attention was drawn to the kids in the center of the room, specifically Owain and his insistence on getting whatever toy his cousin had in her hands at the moment. “Remember when we had the time and ability to go out and do whatever we wanted together, like meal dates and stuff like that? Wouldn’t it be the greatest to go back out to some of those places and see how much they’ve changed, because we’ve both changed so much?”

“That would be lovely if it were possible, but a lot of those places wouldn’t exactly be the best to take Owain, he’s too little for some and wouldn’t enjoy others.” Now Maribelle was looking at the boy as well, but she was also paying a bit of attention to what Cynthia was doing, accepting that she was having to give up her toys every time that he wanted them and not get upset over it. “Goodness, they certainly play together well, don’t they? I can only imagine how difficult this would be if they didn’t get along.”

“We have them spending so much time together to thank for this, me and Sumia have let them basically grow up together so they know how to get along super well.” Pausing as she held out a hand to count on her fingers to check herself, Lissa ended up shrugging before going back to fully cupping her face. “Okay, so maybe Cyn was over a year old when he was born, but she was still a baby then so it counts as them growing up together.”

Since she didn’t know if it were possible to politely correct that statement, Maribelle merely ignored it and continued on without question. “I can’t believe that he’s already two years old, it feels like just yesterday that I was meeting him for the first time. Now he’s an independent little boy and he’s grown up so much in so little time.”

“Are you talking about Owain?” Lucina’s voice was soft and quiet as she spoke, and neither woman had heard her come into the room, much less find a way to enter their conversation, but as she nestled herself right in between the women on the couch they were sitting on she made it feel like she’d been there all along. “I know you are, I just wanted to ask. He’s a silly kid but we love him.”

Shaking her head as she looked at their joiner, Maribelle sighed wistfully. “On the topic of being unable to believe how old kids are, you’re definitely one that needs mentioning. You’re basically full-grown at this point, what happened to the girl of few words that I used to see all the time, or the little toddler that we recruited as flower girl for my wedding?”

“I grew up, I guess,” Lucina replied, brushing her bangs out of her face and exposing her bright blue eyes that matched her hair, one eye a deeper blue than the other. “That’s allowed, right? I didn’t have to stay little forever, did I?”

“No, you didn’t have to, I was just saying that…” Maribelle realized that it didn’t matter how she justified what she’d said, it wasn’t going to click in Lucina’s mind that she wasn’t being completely serious about her question. That was how it worked when speaking with someone her age, something that she knew very well from all the cases she’d work where her client was that age or younger. “Oh, never mind, I’m just glad you’re here and I can spend some time with you as well as your sister and cousin.”

At the mention of her sister, Lucina looked at the younger girl and scrunched her nose before giggling. “Yeah, okay, Cynthia doesn’t spend time with anyone but Owain if he’s around. She doesn’t even listen to Mom when she’s calling for her.”

“It’s true, I’ve been witness to it myself,” Lissa added, backing up her niece’s words. “I’d love to get to sit here with Cynthia on my lap and get her to hang out with me, but she won’t do it unless Owain’s here with her, and then it’s just hard to get both of them comfortable on my lap long enough to make it worth the struggle.”

Lucina waited a moment as she continued looking at her sister, before leaning her head into her aunt’s shoulder, giggling once more as she did. “I’ll cuddle with you, Auntie Lissa. And you too, miss Maribelle, if you want me to.”

“No thanks, I think I’ll let the two of you have your time together and not interrupt it.” She was only saying that because she was starting to think about why she was there and she needed to do something to try and understand why she hadn’t been told about the men-only party that was going on at that very moment. As niece and aunt still sat there, starting to wrap arms around each other in playfully large hugs, she stood up and walked towards the open entryway out of the room, apologizing for her quick departure before ducking out and beginning to walk around the center pillar that the whole house stood around. Her breathing was growing heavy as she began to wonder if there was something horrible going on that she wasn’t supposed to know about, something the men knew and were discussing that no one else was quite allowed to know yet.

If Lissa knew that the gathering was happening, and as Sumia was somewhere at the house she also knew about it, that meant that they were most likely in the know about what the actual cause for it was. And since she hadn’t been told before showing up there that night, it was either something relating to her husband, or to the other man she lived with, and she didn’t want to think that it could be anything about Lon’qu, because Panne didn’t deserve another issue in her life. But she didn’t know what it could be if it came back to being about Vaike, not when everything seemed to be relatively fine, outside of their living arrangement issues; gathering a bunch of men under the guise of “watching sports” to talk about where to live just sounded silly to her.

That was the first time the idea that perhaps there was some kind of discord in their relationship had ever crossed her mind, and she let it linger for far too long before she could push it away. “If there was a problem, he’d have told me,” she assured herself, tapping her fingertips together as she thought about what else it could have really been about. “He wouldn’t have told his friends before me, he would have sat me down and discussed any and all issues with me privately and we’d have fixed whatever we could. That’s stupid, I’m being ridiculous, everything will be explained when we’re at home tonight.”

“Are you out here talking to yourself?” Sumia asked, poking her head out of the other open doorway as Maribelle walked past it. “More importantly, do you want to come sit in here and talk with me, so you have someone who’ll listen to you?”

“That’s a lovely offer, but I’m fine speaking with myself. I’m just working through some negative thoughts about what’s going on tonight.” Maribelle’s explanation was completely honest and she figured that Sumia would drop it right there, but the stern look on her face said otherwise and that was how Maribelle ended up on a stool in the kitchen, talking with a woman she’d never really gotten to know well about all of her fears. For being someone married to such a high-profile man, Sumia never seemed to let things he was doing get to her, but the moment that what he was doing was bothering someone else she was right there with them, fretting over the small things.

“I don’t think Chrom would go to an event that involved tearing a relationship apart,” she admitted, bringing hope to Maribelle’s quickly-worrying mind. “I mean, there’s a chance that’s an afterthought of the evening, but I think he would have told me that was a possibility. He doesn’t like that sort of stuff, and since him and Frederick are both there, I can’t see anything beyond a bit of joking happening without someone getting called about it, if that makes sense.”

“One’s honest about everything and the other’s fixated on making sure everyone knows everything that’s going on, and somehow I find myself thinking that they’ve both failed their traits tonight.” It wasn’t that Maribelle wanted to think that there was something wrong, but the whole situation was screaming at her for being suspicious and she was trying to find positives but could only pick out any negative threads. “I just hope I can go home later to having a husband, as terrifying of an idea as the alternative might be.”

“You need to not worry like that, you know Chrom would have said something if that’s what was going to happen tonight. Think of positive possibilities, it’ll make you feel so much better!” Those were wise words spoken by a woman who’d never once considered that her relationship could be in shambles, and it was hard for Maribelle to accept that what Sumia was suggesting was actually the best course of action. Ever since the fire, she’d been noticing that things weren’t as smooth as they had been when they’d had their own place, but there was no reason for concern unless there was solid proof. “Here, let’s bake something together, just to pass the time. I’m sure you’d make everyone happy if you took something sweet home with you, like a pie!”

“Let me guess, you’ve got the ingredients for a pie with you right now, don’t you?” Maribelle asked, watching Sumia get up from her own stool to start bustling around the kitchen that wasn’t even her own, grabbing pans and materials she knew the exact location of without any hesitation. It was hard not to smile at watching her, but she understood that this was probably what she’d intended on spending her night doing anyway, making desserts for her family, and adding another person into the mix wasn’t that big of a deal.

She was roped into helping out within minutes, Sumia asking her to help with measuring and preparation of different parts of the pies, a task that she admitted she usually turned to Lucina for assistance with but since Maribelle was the one present, she was able to be a quick substitution. It was easy work, and it was nice to be baking with someone that seemed to be incredibly passionate about the act, but what was most important about it was that their conversation while working made the time fly past them like it was nothing at all. Almost as if she’d blinked and missed a whole hour of her life, Maribelle found herself sitting in the kitchen feeling a bit better emotionally, less concerned about things happening outside of the house’s walls, and hungrier than she’d realized as she looked at a couple freshly-baked pies.

That coincided with Lissa and the three children entering the kitchen looking for dinner as well, only to find pies that were meant to be dessert later. Putting all of their heads together to decide what they were going to do about food, they ended up rummaging through cabinets and finding really nothing that sounded good to everyone that was there, which was a problem as they did need to eat. “We could always order something to be delivered here,” Lissa suggested, grabbing Owain’s hands and holding them tightly in her own to keep him from taking handfuls from the pies. “Or we could cook for the children now and figure out something for us adults later.”

Sumia seemed to be fine with that idea, having been snacking on some of her pie ingredients before she’d prepared them in the pies, but Maribelle hadn’t been around when the time for that had been upon them and hadn’t actually eaten since before work that morning. “If you’re going to cook for the kids, I’ll run out and get us something, since I’m starving right this moment.”

“You don’t have to do that, we can call someone to bring it to us. You’ve got to stay and keep spending time with—” While they all knew where Lissa’s sentence was going, she abruptly stopped it when the sound of the doorbell filled the house. “—us? Why is there someone at the door this late, did we already order food without remembering we had?”

“Keep the kids out of the pies, I’ll go check it,” Sumia said without hesitation, heading out of the kitchen and towards the center hallway. Looking at her best friend and how confused she was that someone was at her door and that her sister-in-law was going to answer it for her, Maribelle thought about possibly keeping her company and waiting for Sumia to come back with an explanation but the idea of seeing the revelation for herself was too tempting. She followed Sumia out to the front door, both of them walking in silence until they were standing there, one of Sumia’s hands on the doorknob while Maribelle had a hand on Sumia’s shoulder. They were in this together, even if it was just to turn down someone trying to sell them something.

At the moment the door was cracked open and a quiet “hello?” was asked out into the evening, a hand from the other side grabbed the side of the door and pulled it out of Sumia’s grasp, causing both women inside to scream. “Maribelle, I’ve been trying to get you to answer your phone for nearly an hour now, why are you ignoring me?” It was Panne’s voice, but this was taking place at Lissa’s house and it was completely foreign to Maribelle that she’d come find her there. “There’s something you need to be aware of, you need to come with me right now.”

“Wh-why are you here? What’s so important that you came _here_ of all places to find me?” She wasn’t going to admit that she’d left her phone in her car when she’d gotten there and hadn’t thought about going and getting it, but what mattered more was that Panne had more or less tracked her down for something, and that was usually a bad sign. “You said you were stuck at work until late, what changed about that? Why have you suddenly shown up here, somewhere that you always say you never want to be?”

“I’m here because you’re ignoring work-related calls.” Just like that, the pieces of the puzzle came flying together and Maribelle found herself unable to speak, not knowing how she could justify what she’d done to someone who’d stepped up to the front door of a house she would rather never come close to. “It’s not an urgent matter, not yet, but there was a bit of a confrontation in the main hospital that relates to a case you’re a part of, and no one could reach you to bring you up to speed right away.”

“Do you need to leave?” Sumia looked at Maribelle, then back at Panne, before making an offer that neither of them wanted to hear. “If it’s not necessary to leave, I think it would be an honor to have the head of the pediatric wing of our hospital here in the house for a bit. Lissa and I both have reasons to personally thank you for your service, after all.”

She must not have seen Panne cringe at the name she’d dropped, but Maribelle certainly did, and she wanted to come up with some excuse that would prevent anything more awkward than this surprise appearance from happening. However, when she went to say something to get her and Panne away from the house at once, she found that her words wouldn’t come out at all, her voice nothing more than hot breath. “I…suppose I could stay to speak with you for a few minutes, but then I have personal matters to attend to,” Panne ended up saying, forcing a somewhat happy expression upon her face to make it seem like she didn’t despise what she’d just heard.

“That’d be lovely! Here, come with me, I’ll show you to where Lissa and the children are, they might be cooking right now and I hope you don’t mind that we’re only making food for them, we couldn’t decide what we wanted to eat.” Brushing everything that wasn’t genuine off as if she wasn’t noticing it, Sumia gestured for Panne to come inside, and once she was in with the door closed behind her they were all on their way back towards the kitchen.

“Mama, who’s that?” Cynthia’s chirpy voice called out when all three women stepped into the room, her eyes widening in excitement of someone new being present. “Is she nice? Can we play?”

After looking towards Panne and seeing her smile fade when she heard the request from the little girl, Sumia had to break the news to her daughter that it wasn’t allowed, but she could possibly at least come introduce herself to their new companion. “Why is she in my kitchen?” Lissa asked, overshadowing the joy in Cynthia’s squealing as she’d ran towards where Panne was standing. “I don’t remember ever saying she was allowed in my house, I mean, she’s not a bad person I guess but I don’t know her.”

The fact that her two best friends were now in the same room as each other and she was present for it was making Maribelle uncomfortable, seeing the confusion plastered on Lissa’s face and feeling the unhappy energy coming off of Panne. “I suppose this is when you two can really get to know each other,” she said, scuffing her toes on the floor. “I can’t say I’ve ever thought about the two of you actually becoming friends but I…I wouldn’t be against it.”

“I only came inside because I was told you could thank me for doing my job, but now that I’m here there must be something for me to do. Maribelle’s suggestion might just be what needs to happen.” Panne’s words were delivered slowly, intentionally, as if she was having to keep something else from coming out as she spoke, and it was only after she clamped her mouth shut tightly that Maribelle noticed she wasn’t doing it just to give someone else an opportunity to speak.

“I guess that’s fine, I mean, you have done some amazing things when it comes to how the hospital here takes care of children and I suppose I should get to know you because I have this feeling that I’m going to be spending a lot of time using that care.” Rather than look at the woman she was speaking to, Lissa had focused entirely on Owain and keeping his hands off of the pies he was still reaching for. “Besides, if Maribelle likes you as much as she likes me, there’s got to be something cool about you that I’ll like too!”

“Er, I suppose that’s one way to look at it,” Maribelle muttered, glancing towards Panne and seeing her trying to keep her straightest face on but her eyes were starting to glaze over a bit as she was hugged by a young girl and having to listen to someone talking to her. “Hey, are you okay? There’s no reason for you to be, you know, freaking out about anything right now. You’re in the company of friends, you can at least smile and not look so in pain.”

Her jaw still clenched shut, Panne wasn’t able to explain herself and what she was doing, but Sumia (who was keeping an eye on Cynthia and hadn’t seen anything that was happening) heard just enough to think to pull her daughter away from the woman. In a flash, Panne disappeared, the only indication that she’d ever been there being that Cynthia was really confused about why she wasn’t hugging her anymore, and the sound of her footsteps echoing down the hall, culminating in the front door slamming closed. “Well, so much for that attempt at making things better between us,” Lissa remarked, finally letting go of Owain’s hands and putting him on the floor, so she could walk behind Maribelle and wrap her up in a hug instead. “You tried, and that’s what matters.”  
“Something tells me that she didn’t run out of here because she didn’t want to be near you, I think something’s wrong with her.” Given what she knew about Panne’s personal life and what option she’d taken in a big decision she’d been forced to make, Maribelle was beginning to fear the worst when it came to what had just happened. “I’m going to stay here and wait for her to come back in, if she doesn’t in half an hour I’ll have to chase her down outside or go home to find her there, but I know her and I know that she doesn’t just run from things she doesn’t like.”

“Half an hour, you say?” Sumia’s eyes lit up at the exact time, and she stopped comforting her daughter to go back towards the stove and turn it on. “More than enough time to cook dinner for these kids, since I guess Lissa didn’t start while we were checking the door.”

“Miss Maribelle, can I talk to you?” Lucina chimed in, reminding everyone that she was there and watching everything that had happened. Since Maribelle had no reason to turn her down she accepted the offer, finding it odd when the girl walked her out of the kitchen to be somewhere neither other adult was. “Your friend that came in, she was being weird, wasn’t she? Like, really weird?”

“It was weird for her to act like that, she’s usually a lot more composed than she was right there. What, are you going to tell me you’ve seen her do that before?” It was possible, even if it was unlikely that Lucina had in fact had such an experience prior to right then, and Maribelle wanted to make sure she didn’t sound like she was discrediting anything. “Did she come to your house and act like that in front of your father and say it was weird then?”

“No, she just…she was twitching a bunch and looked like she was going to cry.” Her lips forming a perfect frown, Lucina waited until she could tell that Maribelle had understood what she said before she added anything else. “And she was doing a lot of grabbing at her sides with her hands, almost like she was feeling sick or something. I don’t think you should leave, I like you here, but I do think you should check on her.”

“I understand you, and I appreciate you giving me another perspective on what happened.” Bending her knees to get down more on eye-level with Lucina, Maribelle reached out and ruffled the top of her hair, thanking her for what she’d shared, before getting back upright and stepping back. “Tell your mother and aunt that I’ll be back later if everything’s okay with Panne, otherwise I’ll be by tomorrow or someday soon.” The girl nodded and headed for the kitchen once more, while Maribelle left the house, not really caring too much about whatever was happening now that she was gone. With a child suggesting for her to do something she’d already been considering, there was no reason to ignore it, and so her task became to find her friend and ask her about why she’d ran out like she had.

If she’d driven herself over to the house, her car was nowhere in sight, and it was unlikely that she’d walked there because she’d been at work before that, so unless she’d never intended to come inside and had someone drive her over, it meant that she had already left. “Looks like a visit tomorrow’s what’s going to have to happen,” Maribelle mumbled to herself as she approached her own car, getting in and checking her phone now that she had access to it. Just like she’d been warned, there were a bunch of missed calls and messages telling her that there was a fight between two warring parents in the main hospital and that she needed to get her client in check, something that she had gotten far too late to do anything that day.

Driving home was what she intended to do, but since she still hadn’t eaten she chose to stop and get food for herself and for Panne before going to the house, finding her friend’s car in its rightful spot outside and no one else around. Knowing that meant the men were still out with everyone else, she had to take this opportunity to charge in and find out what had gone wrong before there were too many others around to serve as a distraction. For a moment before she entered the house, Maribelle started to consider everything that could be wrong, the top option being that Panne had been disgusted having to face someone she’d chosen to hate for so long, but she knew that taking any of those possibilities seriously would just lead her in the wrong direction. She needed an explanation from Panne’s mouth, without anyone else feeding her answers, and that meant taking care of things right then.

What she was met with when she opened the front door was nothing she’d come close to expecting she’d have to face, and the fact that she lost all composure and immediately reached for her phone to start calling people was proof enough that it was overwhelming. She was a lawyer, she had very little experience in terms of medical care, and seeing someone completely unresponsive on the floor of the house they lived in together was nothing she was ever going to be prepared for. Through getting ahold of Lissa (who was hesitant to help but did because Maribelle really needed her support right then), she was able to get another body in the house to keep her calm while she attempted to contact Lon’qu to let him know what was going on.

It was while she was finally on the phone with him, hearing him reply coldly to the fact that she was insisting that his wife was in bad shape on the living room floor, that Panne woke up from whatever daze she’d fallen into. “I don’t want to hear a word from you,” Lissa said, covering the woman’s mouth to keep her from even trying to speak. “We’re going to get you looked at right now, I don’t think that you should’ve been working or driving or even being alone if this was possibly going to happen!”

The look of horror in Panne’s eyes at how forceful she was being spoken to made Maribelle want to wrap up her conversation with Lon’qu faster than she already did, but he was remaining insistent that nothing had happened and that they were pranking him. “Okay, well now that she’s awake I think we’re going to go over to the hospital, since I doubt anywhere else is open right now, so meet us there if you think I’m being serious, or come home and see none of us here and learn that I wasn’t lying. Your call.” With that she hung up and jumped into helping Lissa get Panne to her feet and then out to the closest car belonging to one of them, so that they could drive over to the hospital with her together and keep her company while they waited for her husband to show up.

She didn’t say a word to either of them until they’d gotten her admitted and she’d gone through the basic check-in routine to end up in her own room. At the point when she finally spoke, she’d been given some fluids and was clearly stressed about where she was and who she was with, her eyes never looking in Lissa’s direction the entire time she was silent. “I should have figured that you’d catch me in this bad spot,” she said as she focused on Maribelle, who was still a bit panicked but had mostly calmed down now that they were somewhere that nothing more was going to go wrong. “I also should have come clean to you about what kept me at work late today, but I didn’t want to do that in the company of others who don’t need to know.”

“I’ll step out of the room if you want me to,” Lissa snapped, jumping to her feet from the chair she’d been sitting in and heading for the door. “I can go see who’s on duty, this used to be my workplace and I know all sorts of people who might still be here.”

“Go ahead and go, I’ll talk to Panne for a bit to know what’s going on with her since I think she knew this was going to happen.” Her body clearly shaking as she spoke, not out of fear but out of hunger since she had barely gotten to eat anything that she’d bought for dinner, Maribelle motioned towards the door with her head and Lissa followed the direction, but before she left she was given one simple request: “Can you call Sumia and tell her to thank Lucina for what she said to me, if it wasn’t for her I don’t know if we’d have ended up here.”

Nodding in acceptance of the task, Lissa left the room and the moment the door closed behind her Panne sighed. “I had wanted to get to make amends with her but it was not in the cards for today, I’m afraid. I…I shouldn’t have tried getting you to know you missed work-related activities here, I should have simply gone home and cared for myself.”

“Yeah, if you knew you were sick you should have spent time resting, not worrying about anything else but yourself.” Biting her lip, Maribelle waited for whatever response Panne was going to have to that, and what she got was enough to get her to draw in a sharp breath in shock at how casually it was approached.

“I’m not sick, Maribelle, and I would prefer you not assume that’s the case here. I’ve lost one of these embryos already, I’m certain this is me losing the rest of them.” Her words hit Maribelle’s ears and stunned her, but she didn’t seem too bothered by having to say what she just had. “It’s a fact of life that unborn children die, I’ve just experienced it more often than others seem to.”’

“I had no idea that—”

“No one was supposed to know that I was until it was considered ‘safe’ to share the news, or until this inevitably happened. You didn’t know I was pregnant when I ran into your burning house until after I’d suffered losses there, this was not going to be any different.” The bluntness with how she said it was almost too much to handle, and Maribelle wanted to get up and hug her friend, possibly crying on her about her sacrifice and her loss, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. It would look like she was pitying her, and that wasn’t what she wanted to seem like she was doing. “We had hoped that some kind of luck would work in our favor and this last round would do something, but it seems that it wasn’t the case.”

“Panne, I don’t know what I can say right now that you’d want to hear.” Her eyes were welling with tears as she thought about how much pain her friend was possibly in, knowing that what she wanted so badly in life seemed so far out of reach. “You’ll have your lucky break one of these days, I know you will, it’s got to happen.”

Scoffing at what she heard, Panne shook her head. “Pointless words, coming from someone insistent that luck doesn’t exist. It seems that Lon’qu and I simply aren’t meant to raise children of our own and I accept that fate, I cannot take any more of the needles, the medications, the attempts that go nowhere. I’m done trying.”

“I know I don’t believe in luck, but there’s no other reason to explain why someone who so clearly deserves to be a mom can’t be one, while women who have no business being near children can have them over and over again!” For a second, all Maribelle could think about was the surrogate situation she was still knee-deep in, and the idea to suggest that perhaps they try that route next crossed her mind, but she held her tongue and refused to say anything further. Surrogacy was a whole nightmare of an ordeal, and she wasn’t going to push that idea on her friend in such a tough time. “You’ll have your own baby someday, I know you will!”

“You’re trying to be convincing but when I say I’m done trying I do mean it. This failure is the end of the road, we’re not spending any more money on the process when it obviously isn’t working for us.” Their conversation fizzled out after that, Maribelle wanting to be inspirational to her friend but understanding that Panne wasn’t going to want any part of it from there on out. When Lissa came back into the room, she brought Cordelia with her, who seemed happy to be at work, eager to talk about her daughter and how perfect she had turned out to be even with her bratty behavior, and quick to prepare the patient for a discharge under the condition that she get to her actual women’s health doctor as soon as she possibly could.

All in all, the whole interaction with her was awkward and painful for the two who hadn’t left the room, but something about how Cordelia was carrying herself with her assertions made Maribelle hopeful that she was seeing something that none of the rest of them were. “I’ll go with you whenever you make that appointment,” Maribelle offered once they were on their way out of the hospital, the final diagnosis being something about dehydration and improper nutrition. “If anything, I can ask the doctor there some questions I have about babies, now that I’ve been dabbling in surrogacy law.”

“Going is just as useless as being brought here was, I was fully aware I was dehydrated and needed to eat, but the depressive swing one gets into after knowing they’ve lost one of their last attempts at a child does render them helpless when it comes to caring for themselves.” Brushing off what had been said as they walked back to the car, Panne seemed to be distancing herself from everyone else and when she fell into a silence that nothing would break her from, the two ladies knew that it was going to take some real convincing to get her to see the situation any differently.

It was a relationship forged from a harrowing event, but from that moment on Lissa actually reached out to Panne to check on her and make sure she was doing okay, and Panne seemed to be happy with the care and attention she was starting to receive from her. Watching the two of them start to grow tolerant of one another from the sidelines, Maribelle hoped that them becoming close wouldn’t ruin her friendships with either of them—but if it did, it was only right as her being close with them both had prevented them ever knowing each other until then. She would have most likely been more invested in getting involved in their new relationship, but her work was getting more intense by the day and she was having to pull long shifts at the office, trying to sort out all of her cases for the best possible endings.

On top of that, and the stresses of being at home in a house that wasn’t her own, and the fact that she was basically ignoring her husband about everything and anything (they hadn’t even discussed whatever had gone on that night he was out with the others, she couldn’t bring herself to face anything negative), she was still handling that extra side case that should have been getting close to finished up. That baby was still being held hostage by the surrogate mother, her having cut off all non-professional contact with the parents so that they couldn’t ask her anything about how their child was doing, and it seemed that no amount of arguing with her about the lawlessness of what she was doing was going to convince Cherche that she needed to give back what wasn’t hers. With every day that passed, and every update about failed contact attempts that went from being about work matters to personal ones, Maribelle grew more and more worried that there was not going to be a peaceful, happy solution that made all parties involved content with the outcome.

Late one morning, as she sat at her desk reading through an update on a years-old case that had been reopened because there were more claims of abuse against a parent who’d been given custody of their children in a heated court battle, Maribelle heard a knock at her office door and couldn’t be bothered to lift her eyes from what she was looking at. “Whatever you need, just come in and grab it,” she said, hoping that the person at the door wasn’t going to bother her further. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Surely you’re not too in the middle of reading to pay attention to me.” The fact that it was Panne speaking, there in the office, without any warning to her coming to visit was enough to get Maribelle to look up and see her stone-faced friend there in the doorway. “That’s more like it. Come on, we’re leaving right now.”

“You’re talking to me like there’s an emergency or something, did someone get hurt and call you before they called me about it?” That was plausible, given that Panne worked in the hospital and Maribelle didn’t, but it didn’t explain why she was standing there, not acting too concerned about anything and demanding for her to go somewhere with her. “Wait, no, if that were the case you’d have given me a bit of a warning about it. What are you making me leave here for?”

“You volunteered yourself for this and I decided to humor your request, now let’s go before we’re late. I already spoke with your receptionist, he knows you’ll be out of the office for a personal reason for an hour or two.” With every word she was making the situation out to be more mysterious than before, but as she’d covered the bases already Maribelle didn’t see any reason to question too much further into things. Wherever she was going to be taken, she’d clearly previously asked about going there and now she was getting what she’d asked for.

It was while they were driving away from the building that a conversation they’d had weeks prior came back to Maribelle in a flash, causing her to clasp her hands together loudly and look over at Panne in the driver’s seat. “You actually went through with making that appointment you were supposed to, didn’t you?” she asked, getting a stiff nod in response. “I knew you’d cave and do it, even if it hurts you to have to go through it.”

“The decision to make the appointment was Lissa’s, she convinced me that it would be worth my time if I got that closure.” Hearing that development was strange to Maribelle, as she’d figured their relationship wasn’t strong enough for that whole backstory to have been shared, but when she realized that this was nosey, prying-into-everything Lissa that was being talked about, she shrugged it off. “She would have accompanied me today as well, but she was unable to secure someone to watch her son for the time and didn’t want to burden us with his presence.”

“Spending time with Owain is never a burden, no matter what, but I understand, we’re going somewhere that may not be child-friendly.” Because of where she’d been when she’d gotten pulled into this activity, Maribelle’s mind was wandering back to her work and what she should have been doing right then, which led to her accidentally ignoring several things that Panne tried saying to her. When she caught on to her mistake and asked for her to repeat herself she refused, saying that she’d merely been venting negative thoughts about where they were going and she didn’t want to give them a second breath.

Upon getting to the health center that her appointment was at, Panne did have to reach over and grip Maribelle’s shoulder tightly, her palm pressing down on where she had the two hearts tattooed on her skin. “I am aware that going into this building will hurt you just as it hurts me, but we’re in this together, you’re not backing out just because you’ve experienced loss inside these walls.”

“When you recommended this place to me, I didn’t realize it was because you’re super familiar with it,” Maribelle replied, trying to shrug her friend’s hand off of her but failing to do so. “I just thought you’d heard things about it from people you’d interacted with while at work, not that you’d been here yourself.”

“I’ve been relying on the doctors here since I first moved to Ylisstol, they were who I was referred to from the clinic in Ferox I was using.” That was when the hand was lifted, Panne bringing it to rest on her other forearm, stroking the small dots once she could. “Sometimes I wonder if all of these later losses would have happened if we hadn’t moved here, the ones from before that decision were unavoidable and I respect that, but…”

“You’ve been trying this for a long time, haven’t you?” Hoping she didn’t sound insensitive, Maribelle refrained from asking anything about the viability of embryos after they’d been harvested but before they were implanted, even though she was curious how long they were still able to be used. Her memory wasn’t the greatest about specifics when it came to when she and Panne had first met, but it hadn’t been all that long after she’d gotten married, and that was over six years before. Wasn’t it possible that the problem wasn’t that she just couldn’t have kids, but that the kids she was trying to have weren’t really “alive” anymore?

Instead of answering what she’d been asked right away, Panne held off until they were sitting in the waiting room to say anything, the ambient noises of the room enough to mask most of what she said from any wandering ears. “The idea first came up not long after Lon’qu and I became serious with one another, given that he refused to sleep with me and I wasn’t going to be willing to sleep with him, yet we wanted to start a family together. Our first round went well to a point, but then everything was lost just when we started to think we were in the clear. After that, we’ve never gotten to make it to an appointment to see an actual _child_ growing, it’s always been heartbreak and loss.”

It was hard to accept what she was saying, but Maribelle had to do it, although it did raise another question she felt necessary to ask. “So then why did you come to this appointment, and better yet, why did you drag me along?”

“I came because it’s best to know that everything’s biologically correct, I’d hate to die because something went wrong in losing the children. As for why you’re here, you offered and I didn’t forget that.” There was a moment’s pause, before Panne winked at Maribelle. “Plus, you’ll do great at reminding me that I’ve said this is the end of this road. If I brought Lon’qu along, he might change his mind about not trying again and I’d feel pressured to keep trying because of him.”

“That’s a good point.” It really wasn’t, but Maribelle wasn’t going to say that to her friend in their current positions. She didn’t want to make things worse, and she didn’t want to make Panne think she had someone to accompany her, only to lose her at the last possible moment. If she was going to play along, she needed to commit fully. “But you’re being negative about this, something good will happen when we’re in there, just you wait and see. Like…maybe they’ll tell you they’ve got another chance for you after this?”

“These were the last embryos, we’ve known this day was coming for years. Three at a time, so there wasn’t any chance of insane amounts of children, and we’ve had exactly zero successes up to this point. I know one died before the last checkup, and I’m positive the other two died that day you found me on the floor.” The way she spoke was so certain that Maribelle couldn’t fight against it, she couldn’t continue to argue about the negativity, not when Panne was utterly convinced that she was right. And with how many times she’d been in that position before, it made absolute sense to trust in her.

It wasn’t too long after they finished talking that a doctor came out to greet them, dressed in pristine white scrubs that made Maribelle flinch to see. She sounded super formal as she spoke to Panne, shaking her hand as she said, “It’s a pleasure to have you coming in for this check-in, Mrs. Chau, it’s not usual for you to make these appointments.”

“Please, I’ve told you every time we’ve interacted that you don’t need to be formal with me. My name is Panne, I would prefer you use it over my husband’s last name when you’re speaking to me.” Although she partook in the handshake, Panne got up and headed for the door to the back rooms of the clinic the moment it was over, not wanting to spend a second longer in the office than she needed to.

The doctor laughed it off, looking to Maribelle and offering her a hand as well, something she regretted taking once her personal greeting was underway. “As for you, Ms. Themis, I’m glad to see that you’re still doing well despite everything. What was that about your house burning a couple months ago?”

“Er, yeah, that’s a thing that happened,” she replied, tensing up after she realized that the doctor either knew about that from Panne telling her, or from hearing the news about it and connecting the dots—but the news had distinctly mentioned her by _her_ married name, that was what had caused so much trouble there in the aftermath. That meant that Panne had basically told this doctor that she’d lost her last round of children because of that fire and had directly implicated her in everything. She needed to move past that, and fast, and there was only one way she could think of. “How do you remember me, anyway?”

“I remember a lot of the patients I see come through the doors, in particular the ones who suffer losses that they cannot ever recoup.” The doctor’s eyes shifted towards the ground as she thought about something, but when she spoke again she didn’t seem to be bothered at all. “Come along, Mrs. Ch—er, Panne, knows exactly where we’re going to be for this, and I’m going to assume you’re here in place of her husband.”

Nodding, because she was at a bit of a loss for words at how she was remembered by name (and not even her married name that had been most recently in the news, but the name she’d given when she’d been hoping to use the services there) by this doctor, who had to have seen all sorts of distressed faces in her time with the clinic, Maribelle let her lead her down to the room where Panne was already sitting, almost as if she’d done this very thing a million times before. That was when Maribelle fully understood that she had, and that she was expecting this to be the last time she ever did. “I’ve done the honors of getting changed out of my clothes, thanks for having everything in the same place every time,” she said with a grand gesture of her arms, making a big spectacle out of her now wearing a flimsy gown rather than her street clothes. “Let’s get this over with so I can get back to my life as I suppose I’m meant to live it.”

“You’re always so well-prepared whenever you’re in here, it’s almost like you’ve spent time nearly every month in this room for the past six years,” the doctor said with a laugh, before stepping out for a moment to grab something. When she returned, the two women still in there were watching her every move, Panne up on the edge of the bed and Maribelle in the room’s only open chair. “Sorry about that, I guess I wasn’t as prepared as you were for what we’re doing here today. Now spread ‘em, we’ve got to get this over with and get you on with your day.”

Taken aback by the casual behavior the doctor was partaking in, Maribelle couldn’t bear to watch what was about to happen. She averted her eyes and made sure that her only involvement in what was going on was being a present body, moral support for a friend who needed it. “Come on, there’s nothing bad you can see from where you are, you can at least not hold your hand up in front of your eyes,” Panne said, talking as if she wasn’t in the middle of some kind of procedure. “I’m not asking you to look, I’d prefer if you don’t, but—”

“Shush, you’re talking and that means you’re moving, I need you to stay completely still while I’m doing this. Don’t need to accidentally puncture something while I’m in here.” All things considered, the doctor might have been rather casual but she was mindful of what she was doing, and she seemed to have beyond a professional relationship with her current patient. “I know that you said you’re pretty sure you’ve lost the last two kiddos but you can never be positive about that until the scan comes back clear, and if you’re moving we might never get that clarity.”

“Yeah, Panne, don’t you want that kind of clarity?” Heeding her friend’s word, Maribelle dropped her hand and let it rest on her lap, but she still couldn’t bring herself to look at what was going on. If there was talk of puncturing, this wasn’t any kind of appointment that she’d seen in media and while she was curious about the method of viewing, she didn’t want to infringe on her friend’s private moment to understand. The laughter her comment received was forced and was followed by another warning from the doctor about movement, which led to the room becoming silent minus the sounds of machinery at work. After a fair amount of time, spent properly doing the exam, Maribelle assumed, the doctor made a comment about how they were just about ready to start seeing what was going on, but her words were cut off by a surprised gasp. As much as she wanted to see what was going on, as she recognized which mouth had made that gasp, she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

How convenient that there were two pairs of eyes looking at the exact same data that she was trying her hardest to avoid. “That’s definitely a still-living child in there,” the doctor remarked, her words overshadowed by a loud huff coming from Panne. “What, isn’t that what you wanted to see?”

“Pardon the language, but you have to be fucking kidding me. That’s…alive. That’s not—it isn’t—I can’t—what kind of fool are you taking me for?” All of her words came out at once, sharp breaths punctuating her sentences before she fell into stumbling over even more words. “There isn’t any way, I know what happened and I know that this isn’t possible.”

“Well, if you think it isn’t possible, I’d like you to get a closer look at the little fella.”

“I’d prefer not to, there isn’t any way that it’ll live past this, not with my luck.” Something about how Panne used that word right there, in that very context, made Maribelle’s whole body stiffen, and she gave in to her curiosity and turned to see what they were talking about. But when she finally looked, she couldn’t see anything at all, the screen any information was on facing away from her and the two ladies looking at it and not at her. She had to stand up and move around to see what was going on, but before she could see anything she was stopped with a request: “Mari, could you please be a dear and call my husband to tell him to get here as soon as possible. You have his number, you know how to sound urgent without being too panicked, I need you to do this for me.”

“But I want to see the baby,” she replied, before realizing that saying that sounded awfully immature coming from a grown woman who’d just been asked to relay an important message to someone. “Oh well, I can always see it later, can’t I? I’ll call Lon’qu and tell him that you’re in dire need of his company, he’ll eat it up and get here within minutes, I bet.”

“Please don’t worry him, I need him to arrive here in one piece to know what’s going on. This will go on long enough for him to see it for himself, right?” The question was posed towards the doctor, who must’ve given an answer but Maribelle wasn’t paying attention enough to hear it, as she was heading back out to the lobby to make the call that she’d been asked to make.

It was when she was standing back in the empty lobby that she checked her phone to see that everything in it had been wiped, almost as if she’d accidentally done a factory reset on it without meaning to. “You…you’re joking right now,” she said, finding her contacts list to be completely empty. “I can’t go back in there and be like ‘hey, can I please get his number, I lost it between being here and being in the lobby’, I have to handle this myself.” There were exactly four phone numbers she’d committed to memory, one being her own, one being her father’s, one being the main number for her office, and one being Vaike’s, and she was certain that calling all but one of those would be pointless right there at that moment.

Something told her that calling her husband to ask for Lon’qu’s number from him just wouldn’t work, but she knew that she had the very number she needed on a sticky note by her computer in her office at work; that was one of the more entertaining work-related calls she’d ever had to make, and she didn’t feel even an ounce of remorse about choosing to avoid speaking with her husband right then. This way, she was able to get through to Lon’qu without raising any suspicion with anyone, she was able to tell him to meet him there at the doctor’s office, and she was able to be present for the moment where he came into the exam room expecting to be met with the bad news he’d been waiting for and receiving the greatest surprise instead.

The three of them swore to keep the news to themselves until there was as little of a chance of losing that baby as possible, and they were all intending to stay true to that promise. And just like with the number thing, Maribelle didn’t feel even slightly bad about not letting Vaike in on the secret, not when he wasn’t even aware anything was going on around him. That was, of course, because he’d unknowingly become on the outs with the very people he thought cared most about him, and there wasn’t anything that he could do to change it minus call them all out on it, and when he didn’t know it was happening that wasn’t going to happen under any circumstances.

* * *

“So when do you guys get her t’keep for yourselves?” It was a question that was being asked at least once a week since late September, and as it was early November when they’d all gathered there at their favorite bar to hang out at, that meant there’d been a lot of repetitions of the question. It wasn’t Vaike’s fault that he’d gotten more invested in his friends’ drama than he should have been, he _was_ married to the person fighting for them to get what they wanted out of everything, but he wasn’t going to rest until he got a positive answer about things. “She’s gotta be old enough t’leave her mom now, right?”

“I’m her mom, you idiot,” Sully replied, nearly knocking over a glass on the table they were sitting at as she reached across the table to feign smacking Vaike. “You know she’s been being held hostage over there, but it’s whatever. Virion got to see her a couple days ago, she’s alive and she’s not being starved or tortured there, we’ve got to take what we can get while this whole mess gets sorted out.”

At mention of his name, Virion looked up from the screen of his phone, him having been reading something on it with a grim expression on his face. “While I find it horrifying that we’ve been given such a runaround with all this, even with legal representation, I’ve begun to understand why the courts have such an issue when it is I who kicks up a fuss, rather than when it’s you, Catie.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to say something about biological parents, aren’t you?” Not even visibly minding that she’d been referred to the way that she had, Sully watched as Virion handed his phone over to her; it was only after she’d read part of what he had on his screen that she seemed to be disgusted. “I can’t believe that they’d use that as a reason for why I have to be the one fighting for her. You’re her father, even if you’re not biologically, but why should that matter if you’re not? Cherche isn’t her biological mother, I am, damn it! And yet here we are, fighting this stupid fight anyway.”

“I just can’t imagine what it’s like t’be in your position in all this, watchin’ some other woman have your kid and not want to give her up.” While Vaike didn’t know what it was they were discussing in particular, and he wasn’t going to ask to read the legal documentation they were sharing on the phone, he was going to act as supportive as he could to these friends, even if he had already misspoken without intending to. “Based on how you’re bein’ treated here, you’d think she’s the actual mom, not you.”

“But she isn’t, and that’s what we’re trying to get nice and clear in everyone’s minds. That’s our kid, that’s not hers, she only volunteered to do us a favor and have her for us and then decided she was going to hold her hostage.” Passing the phone back to Virion’s waiting hand, Sully shook her head as he went back to reading through what was on the screen. “You’d think they’d have worked out the wording in some of these legal things, rather than having broad, vague statements that everyone can argue to fit their case. We’re her parents, we shouldn’t be looked down on for fighting for our daughter together.”

“Maribelle’s lookin’ down on ya? Why’re ya still askin’ her t’help if she’s doin’ that?” It took backtracking completely and explaining that Maribelle was, in fact, one of the few people who was fighting against the vagueness of the laws they were looking at in order to give them the case they needed, but even after all was settled Vaike wasn’t quite sure that he was understanding what was going on. “But if you’ve got her fightin’ for ya, and she’s fightin’ for both of ya, why’re ya not gettin' anywhere fast?”

“That would be because we’re not her only case, we’re far from her area of expertise, and she’s up against someone who’s got a legal team of her own who wants to see your wife fail at what she does.” Virion sighed, setting his phone face-down on the table and grabbing his drink instead, knocking half of it back without hesitation before he resumed speaking. “But they let the fighting drag on too long, now that we’re into more of a situation that Mari is used to dealing with she’s become spectacular with fighting for us.”

“We’re actually waiting for her to call us to tell us that everything’s settled and that we get to take our girl home, but who knows how long that’ll take. Like I said, Virion saw her a couple days ago, but that was the last time that either of us got to do so, and it wasn’t under lawful supervision so for all we know, it screwed everything up to hell and back again.” It was clear that talking about this was starting to eat away at the rough exterior Sully usually had built up around her, but when it was the most interesting thing any of them had to discuss while they were together, there wasn’t much that could be done to avoid it. “Your wife just needs to make the damn call and tell us what’s going on so we can finally have what we want.”

“I…yeah, I hope she calls ya soon, it’s about time you’re outta this mess.” He was glad that neither of them made the suggestion for him to do anything about it for them, because he would have had to turn them down if they had. It had been quite a while since he and Maribelle had talked about anything related to this case with him, and what he had heard had been through her telling Panne or Lon’qu about it, acting as if he wasn’t there and he wasn’t meant to be listening to a word she said. When he mentally added those slights to the fact that she’d been distancing herself from him slowly since they’d lost their house and couldn’t agree on how to approach fixing that situation, it felt almost as if she hated him or couldn’t stand to be around him.

Honestly, he was at a loss for how to interact with her after so long of her pretending he didn’t exist even if he was right there next to her, and while he understood that he knew enough about her involvement in the case to talk about it, he hadn’t actually heard any specific updates about it since she’d gone back to the house complaining about the birth of the child and how that should have put an end to the whole thing. Everything else he’d learned had been at meetings like this, sitting there at the table at the bar, sometimes just the three of them and others with Stahl and occasionally his wife. That wasn’t right, he’d always been first to hear about the outcomes of legal cases the moment they could be disclosed, because Maribelle had always wanted to talk about what she was doing with him—and now she never wanted to talk to him at all.

The last time he remembered speaking to her for more than a couple words was when they’d last talked about finding somewhere of their own to live, which had been several months beforehand and hadn’t even been his own conversation he’d started. She’d come to him saying that they should think about moving out and giving everyone their own space, but when he’d reminded her that they couldn’t decide about what kind of home they wanted to move to she grew irritated and didn’t want to talk about it further. “I guess I can sort things out myself,” she’d said that day, and those words had meant that she was upset with him then; now, though, he was having to sort other things out for himself and she wasn’t any part of any of his decisions.

“Dude, are you paying any attention to what we’re talking about?” He wasn’t, and it was only because of Sully loudly asking him that that he was brought back into the conversation, apologizing for getting caught up in thinking about something else. “Whatever, I don’t really care about you saying sorry here, it wasn’t that big of a deal. We were just talking about what it must be like to not have things go wrong on you all the damn time, and I happened to say that you weren’t the person we needed to ask about that. You’ve got the worst luck out of everyone I’ve ever met, and I’m a police officer who deals with dumb criminals for a living.”

“Thanks, I guess. Bet ya wanted me t’say somethin’ about how what you were sayin’ isn’t true or whatever, but we all know it is.” Although he’d grown accustomed to Maribelle’s insistence that luck wasn’t real, Vaike had always considered himself to be fairly unlucky and couldn’t ever acknowledge that fact when she was around. But this was somewhere that she wasn’t, and even if she _was_ there she would have been ignoring him to talk solely about the case the others were involved in. “Everythin’ ‘bout luck’s just stupid, if ya ask me. Why do some people get t’experience things however they want, but then others ‘a us haveta deal with consequences and bad things and all that nonsense?”

“Because some people seem to be in better graces with Naga than others,” Virion answered, giving Sully a wistful look before downing the rest of his drink. “Judging by how hard we’ve had to fight to get what we want every time we want something, Naga must be very displeased with the pair of us, hm?”

She nodded in agreement. “That’s what I’d say, and it’s bull that it’s that way. What did we do that’s so wrong?”

“I could make a couple guesses as to what it is.”

“And I can’t believe you took it there.” That was said in response to the vulgar hand gesturing that Virion made as he’d been speaking, something that was obviously a tender enough subject that it was making Sully’s face light up with a blush. “Are we really going to make those kind of jokes in front of a friend, while we’ve been talking about bad luck relating to not having our daughter with us?”

“You asked what we did that’s wrong, I was merely replying with the answer.” There were tensions rising between the two, and they weren’t anything that Vaike wanted to be present for when they boiled over, so he handed them the money for what he’d had to drink and began to make his way home, just to avoid whatever was going to come next. He enjoyed getting to spend time with the couple, they were fun and he’d been friends with one so long that seeing her get her happiness meant a lot to him, but he wanted to know how their case was going to turn out, and he didn’t want to have to wait until their next bar meeting to find out if they got their girl back.

There was one obvious solution to the problem, and he decided he was going to solve it once and for all once he got back to the house. He was going to confront Maribelle and force them to talk through their emotions and their thoughts, let all of their feelings about each other out into the open, and call it a good day. She was so caught up in everything about everyone else in the world that she’d started to think less about herself and her most important relationship, and it was time that they make moves to fix that. Yet, when he got to the house she didn’t seem to be there, no sign of her car despite everyone else’s being there, which meant that either she drove everyone somewhere or she never came home.

Unfortunately for him, it was the latter possibility, which he discovered upon entering the house for himself and seeing that Lon’qu and Panne were both there, in the middle of discussion on the living room floor that seemed to be rather heated. “Er, I didn’t mean t’be interruptin’ anything,” he said as he closed the front door behind him, watching them both turn to look at him. “You just keep on talkin’, I’m gonna go t’the room and freshen up and all that, I don’t want t’feel like I’m botherin’ ya.”

“No, you’re not interrupting or bothering us by being here,” Panne replied, speaking before Lon’qu had the chance to. “In fact, if you wanted to you are more than welcome to join our conversation, it’s nothing bad and could actually use a third viewpoint.”

“Could it really? Well, in that case, I suppose I could join ya instead.” Sitting on the floor with them always felt more formal than it ever ended up being, but with how passionately they’d been talking when he’d opened the door he figured that this would be an instance where the formality fit the situation. “What’re we talkin’ about, huh? What is it that ya need me t’weigh in on?”

As if he’d been meant to be included from the start, Lon’qu took no hesitation in catching him up to speed with what they’d been discussing. “We both arrived home this afternoon to find that your wife has removed everything she owns from our home, and she left a note explaining that she didn’t want to be ‘intruding in our space’ during an important time in our lives, which isn’t the case at all. We are trying to decide if we should confront her about it, or if we should let her come back and explain herself.”

“It’s the strangest thing that she’s done this, we were just talking the other day about how she wanted to help out with decorating the baby’s room and how she was going to smother the poor thing in affection the first chance she got.” Sounding serious yet slightly hurt by the turn of events, Panne had her tattooed arm pressed up against her stomach, while her other hand had fingers tapping against her leg. “I can only wonder if something at work got to her and she needed to get away from this environment, or perhaps she just wanted to have a night alone and didn’t know how to ask for it.”

“She just walked out on all ‘a us and didn’t bother sayin’ anythin’ outside of a note?” That threw a huge curveball at the plan he’d made for the night, now that he knew that he most likely wasn’t going to be seeing Maribelle and wouldn’t be able to talk to her about anything. “I mean, I haven’t really spoken much t’her in a long while, but it never seemed like she was unhappy with any ‘a us or anythin’ like that, so it’s gotta be work related.”

“And what if it’s not?” Lon’qu asked, breaking the illusion that there was nothing wrong at all. “What if she was mad at someone here and left like this rather than deal with whoever is bothering her? After all we’ve done for the two of you, I would expect her to treat us with a bit more respect, but what can you expect from a woman like her?”

Facing a reality that he didn’t like thinking about, Vaike swallowed down all of his fears and concerns about saying what he needed to and came right out with it: “I don’t think that she’d ever be mad at either ‘a you, if she’s mad at anyone she’s mad at me and I’ve gotta sort it out for ya, simple as that. But I don’t think she’s mad at someone, I think she was just lookin’ for some time alone without any ‘a us t’bother her.”

“We can only hope, we’d been making some plans that I would be heartbroken to no longer have to look forward to.” Even though she was trying to stay her usual calm and composed self as they spoke, it was clear that Panne was bothered more than she was letting on, and she could only do so much to keep her emotions in check before she was starting to get choked up. “If there’s something we’ve done wrong to hurt her, to upset her, in any of what’s been happening here lately, I want to be able to apologize to her about it.”

“Didja try callin’ her? She’s usually good about…” His voice trailing off as he received two looks that told him that he was suggesting a really dumb thing, he felt his heart starting to speed up in his chest and he wished right then that this wasn’t happening to any of them. “Okay, so she’s not answerin’ her phone, and I bet her note didn’t say where she was goin’ so we can’t just split up and go drivin’ around town t’try findin’ her, so we’ve gotta think like she thinks. Where’s somewhere that Maribelle always wants t’go if it isn’t here?”

“I already called Lissa, she’s not aware of any plans that Maribelle has so it most likely isn’t there,” Panne said, her finger-tapping growing more furious. “There is the chance that she lied to me, but I doubt that Lissa is capable of keeping secrets without being obvious about it. Does she have a good relationship with her parents? Is it possible that she’s returned to live with them?”

Vaike shook his head, thinking back on all of the times that he’d heard Maribelle talk negatively about her family, as well as how often he’d nearly started fighting her father every time they interacted. “Not only is it not possible, it’d require her givin’ up everythin’ ‘bout me and I’m pretty sure I’d have heard her say somethin’ if she was plannin’ on doin’ that t’me.”

Tilting her head to the side as she thought about any other possibilities, Panne said, “She may be with Chrom then, I unfortunately have no contact information for him or his wife to check to see if that is the case. The only other ideas I have are that she’s driving around aimlessly and will return after dark, or she’s at the office working on one of her cases. There aren’t many places someone like her would end up, I can’t imagine.” Her last words were spoken with a sigh, a feeling of disappointment coming over her that she couldn’t come up with any more answers to what they were facing. “We may just have to wait for her to tell one of us what’s going on.”

“What if I don’t wanna wait, huh? She shouldn’t be pullin’ stunts like this, this isn’t funny and it’s botherin’ me that she thought it was okay t’do this!” Slapping his own leg in his burst of anger, Vaike realized that he’d startled the other two with how aggressive he’d gotten in that moment but he couldn’t bring himself to apologize for it. “We’ve gotta try and get through t’her before somethin’ bad happens, I’m not losin’ her just ‘cause she thinks she can get some alone time!”

When neither other person moved an inch in the wake of what he’d just decided, he knew that solving the problem wasn’t going to be done with hasty actions. They had to approach everything cautiously, since she was alone and they didn’t fully know what her intentions of leaving were. That meant choosing to stay at the house and wait for any kind of explanation to come from her, whether in person or through a phone call, and the mere act of trying to pretend that nothing was wrong now that she was gone was more painful than not knowing wherever it was that she’d disappeared to. Thoughts of horrible things happening to his dear wife were crossing Vaike’s mind as he tried making light conversation to pass the time, and it got to the point that he couldn’t bring himself to talk to the others at the house because he only wanted to voice his fears of what had gone wrong.

That led to him isolating himself in the bedroom he and Maribelle had been using since the fire, getting a good look at how she really had come in and taken everything that was explicitly hers from what belongings they had there. While she’d been storing her things there in the room, it had been a few weeks since she’d last slept in there, her usually staying up late working on cases and falling asleep in a chair in the living room; he’d insisted that she join him in the bed again sometime and she’d always said that she’d do it once she wasn’t so busy with work. Never once had he thought that she wasn’t going to keep her word about that, he thought they’d get through whatever lack of communication they had going on and get back to their lives as they had been before.

His thoughts began to wander back to the last time they’d actually talked, about how they couldn’t agree on something and she’d gotten so upset with him about the house situation that she stormed off and refused to speak with him further. She hadn’t been present when he’d been let in on the news that Panne and Lon’qu were expecting a child, something that they told him she’d already known way before he did, and even after she was aware he knew what was going on she remained distant, cold, acting like she wanted nothing to do with him, even if she wanted to be present for everyone else. She could claim all she wanted that she’d left to be alone, but he knew that she’d left to get away from him, to stay far away from someone who…loved her? Who wanted her to be happy?

Who wasn’t going to bend to give her what she wanted, no matter how much she begged him to? “Damn it, why’d ya haveta go and pull this on us?” he muttered to himself, running a hand back through his hair as he thought more about how she’d ignore his gazes, choose not to say anything when he was talking, leave a room if he walked into it. “I love ya, Mari, but none ‘a this was necessary and I think ya know it. Just come back home and I’ll make everythin’ right again, I swear I will.”

He knew he wasn’t going to be given the chance to do so, and if he wanted it he’d have to go and get it himself. That would take more than just words, he’d need actions to back it up, but where was there that was a good starting point for those kinds of changes? Fixing this whole mess was going to be a long process, and every second he spent not working on it was another second the love of his life was slipping further away from him.


	11. Friday the Thirteenth

Maribelle was making miracles happen without meaning to, something she’d always known she had the capabilities of but hadn’t really done too much of while acknowledging it. She’d always considered getting a child out of an abusive situation to just be part of the job, even though it was oftentimes more miraculous than anything else she’d experienced. To finally see a case that had ran her through the wringer come to a positive conclusion, a months-old baby girl getting to go home with the parents who’d loved her and fought so hard for her, it was easily the biggest miracle she’d had a hand in creating.

But just because she’d made a miracle happen in their lives didn’t mean there wasn’t any sort of cost to it, and her cost wasn’t quite the financial one that it had turned into for everyone else involved. Hers was social, emotional, and physical—she’d neglected her relationships and her well-being in the last few months of the case, spending most of her time focusing on how to finish it rather than how to be a good friend, a good wife, and a good person. After the court costs were taken care of and the family that had fought so hard was reunited (it was actually their first time all together, which brought tears to Maribelle’s eyes to see happen), she had to go back and fix everything she’d broken by focusing so hard on the case.

At least, that would have been the appropriate course of action, but she was completely unsure how she’d go about fixing some of the things. By the time the case had wrapped up, she’d been living on the couch in Lissa’s house for weeks, the place she knew she’d inevitably end up after walking out of Panne’s house in broad daylight, and while her friendships with both women hadn’t been damaged in her focus on the case, those might have been the only relationships she’d managed to keep maintaining, and there was exactly one reason why that had happened: _children_.

It would have been nothing but a lie if she said she didn’t choose to go crash at Lissa’s house because Owain was there, and she needed the presence of a bubbly little boy in her life when things felt hopeless. And she’d kept in touch with Panne after the first few days of leaving her home, because she wanted to be in the know about everything relating back to her baby, to the point that she went back to that house several times a week just to check on the expectant mother. Those visits were never without awkwardness and the potential for drama, especially when she’d get there and see a familiar work truck parked outside, but she wasn’t there to talk to her husband, she was there to talk to her friend.

If there was any way to get around having to even _see_ Vaike, she would have loved to find it, because her neglect of him had gotten to the point that she just didn’t want to try fixing anything until she had a way to do so. He was clearly still living at that house and hadn’t yet found somewhere else, which meant that he hadn’t accepted what she’d wanted them to have in their new home, and that meant that she still wasn’t going to get anywhere with him if she spoke to him, so what was even the point of causing herself that headache? It certainly would make visits over to that house less awkward, but Maribelle wasn’t one for doing things for the better of everyone, she did things for herself if she wasn’t obligated to include others, and she could live with being separated from her husband until he could get everything related back to her sorted out for the both of them.

The only time she actively reached out to him was for his birthday, meeting him in person and wishing him a good day as well as reminding him that she loved him more than anything else. His response to that was nothing more than a thank you and a “love you too”, and she felt content in getting that interaction out of the way. They could clearly be civil with one another, the reason they were living in separate houses was because she wanted to be living with a child she could play with, and where he was living there just wasn’t one of those yet. Yet was the key word there, as it was increasingly obvious with every visit that the time for there to be one was approaching, but until that baby was born alive and well she wasn’t going to really want to go back to living there.

Until there was no reason for her to do that, which happened one day not long after the turn of the year, when she arrived at the house after work to see that the makeshift addition to the family name banner on the wall had been removed. “What’s up with that?” she asked, gesturing to the lack of taped-on paper adding their names alongside the actual residents’ names. “Did you decide that we weren’t worth it anymore?”

“You haven’t lived here in a while, so it only stayed up because Vaike was still here, but now that he’s found somewhere new to live there’s no need for your inclusion anymore.” Looking at where Maribelle’s hand was pointing and feeling relieved that there wasn’t a tacky eyesore on his carefully-selected wall decoration anymore, Lon’qu let his gaze track along her arm until he was looking at her face instead, which had become contorted into a look of confusion. “Did he not let you know that he’d gotten a new home for you both?”

“I must have missed that information, or maybe he didn’t bother telling me at all.” As much as she wanted to shrug off that news, Maribelle knew that doing so would make it look like she didn’t care about whatever it was Vaike was up to, but she wasn’t going to lie and say that she did particularly care. “I might have ignored his calls or messages or whatever about it, I don’t really spend my time seeking out talking to him.”

“That isn’t any way to treat him,” Lon’qu told her, taking on a scolding-like tone as he spoke. “He cares enough about you despite you pushing him away to move back out on his own, the least you can do is consider his feelings and reach out to him. He was rather proud of the home he picked out, even if you had no say in it, because he made sure to take what you’d said before into consideration.”

“I’d believe it if I ever saw it, but I don’t think I’ll be seeing it any time soon. Living with him means living on his schedule, and right now I’m not exactly keen on early mornings and late nights.” That was true, since she’d wrapped up her bigger cases she’d been doing better about sleeping earlier in the evening and waking up only right before she needed to leave for work, which meant fewer nights spent reading or working. “Maybe someday I’ll get back to him, but he knows I care about him even if I’m not living with him. We’re still married, you know, that’s got to mean something.”

Pausing for a second to let what she’d said really sink in, Lon’qu gave a quick nod at her words. “If the one who deals with legal matters hasn’t taken the step to dissolve a marriage, I suppose there’s nothing to be too concerned about. I guess I’m just, I don’t know, starting to get into this whole protective mindset over things that I don’t need to be worrying with. Must be a consequence of getting ready to be a father.”

“Believe me when I say that you don’t need to be getting protective about Vaike of all people, he’s a grown man who can protect himself. You just worry about protecting your wife and your unborn baby, okay?” Her eyes were looking at the banner on the wall again, having begun to ignore the emptiness that she’d noticed when she’d entered the house. “What are you going to do about that once there’s another actual member of your family, if you don’t mind me asking? You going to get an updated one?”

“Do we have to worry with that right this moment? What we decide to do will come in the future, right now I don’t have the slightest of clues what we’re going to do. We’re worrying about getting the room set up and making this house as safe as possible for a small child, we don’t have time for things like that.” There was the usual standoffish voice that Lon’qu spoke with, and when he started walking away from the spot he’d been standing in the whole time, Maribelle recognized the conversation as being over and wasn’t going to ask him anything else about what they’d been talking about.

Based on how they’d had that whole talk without any interruption, it seemed like she’d gotten there while Lon’qu was the only person home, and he’d let her inside and talked with her as if she’d belonged all along. Taking a seat in the chair she’d used to sleep in every night, she found herself absentmindedly going through her phone as she waited for the person she was actually there to see to make her presence known; this ended up being a mistake as she stumbled upon the list of blocked calls and messages from her husband that she’d been trying to hide from herself. That was why she hadn’t know about the new house, she’d been intentionally keeping anything he said far away from her eyes, the last exchange she’d allowed being a verbal one there at the very house she was currently sitting in. How he’d been so happy to hear her tell him she still loved him, to the point that he’d gotten tongue-tied and could barely form his response, yet she didn’t feel comfortable in letting herself get close to him once more.

She knew what would happen if she stopped separating herself from him, if she went back to his side and resumed being his loyal wife through hardship and good times. They wouldn’t agree on how to approach certain things she wanted in life that he seemed to be vehemently against, they’d fight over what they were going to do with their private lives and the time spent together, and they’d fall apart because they’d begin to hate each other. The way things were now, they still loved each other even though they were apart, and when the time was right they could get back together as if nothing had ever happened between them.

Or at least, that was how she had intended for things to end up, but she knew better than anyone that sometimes things just didn’t work out how anyone wanted them to. But she knew she’d unblock his number someday, and that she’d make an effort to return his calls and get back to where they had been before, it just wasn’t time for it yet. When that time was going to be, she wasn’t really sure, but there would come a day where she wanted to spend all her time with him again, and maybe by then he’d have come to his senses about how to treat her and give her what else she wanted from him. If he hadn’t, then she’d make sure that it was one of the first things he did do for her, if he really wanted her to stick around and for their relationship to last.

“Maribelle, are you going to say hi or what?” Lissa’s voice asked, coming out of nowhere and surprising Maribelle to hear. This wasn’t her house, this wasn’t where she should have been, why was she the one speaking to her? “Jeez, if I’d known you were going to come over here, I would’ve asked you if you wanted to come out with us after you got off work!”

“I’m sorry, you were out somewhere?” After blinking a couple times to assure herself that yes, Lissa was standing there in the living room of Panne’s house, without either person who actually lived there currently in sight, Maribelle put her phone down in her lap and looked at her friend with a confused expression. “That’s news to me, where were you at? What were you doing? Would I have loved to be there?”

“All we did was go to the mall and walk around for a little bit, Panne wanted to take Owain shopping because she hadn’t ever done that before and he was excited to spend time with someone else for a change.” Laughing, Lissa looked back over her shoulder at the still-open front door and raised a hand to her mouth, using it to whistle as loud as she possibly could at whoever was still outside. “That boy, I swear, it might’ve been a really bad idea to have him go out with just me and her, he’s a huge handful and I ended up running all over the building chasing him down just so that she didn’t have to.”

Maribelle was looking towards the door to see who was going to come inside, but that didn’t prevent her from replying right away. “I can see why that would be an issue, you probably should have considered inviting me in that case.”

“I didn’t know when you’d be off work, and Panne wanted to go as soon as possible, so I guess I’m sorry about that? But you probably should take up your hurt feelings with her, not me, it’s not like anyone but the pregnant one gets to call the shots when you’re doing something.” She was laughing again, almost ready to give a second whistle, when her brown-haired, knee-high son came barreling into the house, grabbing his mom’s legs and swinging around on them while he excitedly blabbered about how much fun he was having running around in the front yard.

“He attempted to run out into the street and I had to remind him that a passing car could and would squish him if given the chance.” Sounding tired as she spoke, her words coming out in a rather breathy voice, Panne entered the house with her eyes locked straight on Owain, not caring that there was someone there to visit her in the room. “If he were my child I would have scheduled a walkthrough at the hospital to show him what happens to naughty children who get hit by cars, but that’s your decision to make, not mine.”

“Don’t you think that’s kind of excessive? I think that’d be like taking a misbehaving kid to the jail to show them real criminals,” Lissa said, before realizing that she’d just told that to a woman married to someone who worked in a jail, and she sighed when she figured out that she might have just given Panne an idea. “Please don’t actually do that to your poor baby, I don’t think it’ll have the effect you’re looking for.”

“It wouldn’t be me taking them to the jail, so it isn’t my call on that one.” Turning her attention up to Lissa, Panne managed to see where Maribelle was sitting in her usual sleeping place and gave her a small wave, although she didn’t seem like she was about to address her. “You and I both know, though, that the hospital option is valid for either one of us, and either one of these children.”

“Yeah, but…I don’t think we really _need_ to take Owain over there, he’s probably going to know that place inside and out by the time he’s an adult. All those bumps and bruises from falling down all the time are gonna become bigger injuries as he grows and I know it.” As she ruffled her son’s hair, Lissa saw that Panne was quickly losing interest in her and what they were discussing, and to aid the process she stepped aside and motioned a shoulder towards Maribelle. “Talk to her now, she’s here and I didn’t even know she would be, so I doubt you knew it either.”

Smiling sheepishly at her friend as she walked towards her, Maribelle wanted to explain the reason for her surprise appearance but it seemed that Panne already had a fairly solid idea for it in mind. “Let me guess, you wanted to check up on me and see if you could get to spend any time with the baby, but you were caught off-guard by me not being here?”

“Something close to that, sure,” she replied, standing up (and letting her phone fall to the ground, not that she needed it for anything) so that she could meet Panne face-to-face, only for her to have a hand forcibly grabbed and held onto tightly. “Aw, do you need someone to hold your hand for you? I’m sure Owain would do it in a heartbeat if you wanted.”

“No, I need you to hold my hand so you don’t start trying to touch me once I’ve told you what news I have to share with you.” Her face beginning to light up now that she had Maribelle exactly where she needed her, Panne asked Lissa to go find Lon’qu and bring him into the conversation before she turned her attention back to the confused woman who wasn’t entirely sure why her hand was being held still. “I’ve been trying to come up with a good way to break this news to you, and I suppose that it’s about time I just get it over with before someone lets it slip accidentally.”

“It’s not that the baby’s dead, is it?” The thought wasn’t one that Maribelle wanted to voice, but given her friend’s history with children it was a valid thing to be concerned about. The stern shake of the head she received in return was comforting, but it wasn’t enough to make her fully believe that she wasn’t being lied to. “Okay, but you’re going to have to let me feel to make sure, I’ll only accept movement under my hand as an answer.”

“And that would be why I’m holding onto you,” Panne reminded her, taking Maribelle’s other hand into her own the moment she tried to make a move with it.  “I would prefer it if you don’t touch up on me without my permission, which I am not giving to you right now.”

“You getting defensive about this isn’t doing anything good in regards to me thinking the baby’s dead.” She was hoping that her building worry was unfounded and this was just her friend not wanting her to make physical contact with her at the moment, rather than something negative, but the way Panne’s grip on her hands was tightening every time she attempted to pull away was making her worry grow faster. “Just let me feel them for myself, it’s been ages since I got to do that with someone and I think it’s simply an amazing feeling to experience under my palms!”

“Wait until Lon’qu is here, once we tell you what’s going on you’ll be even more eager to get a feel for yourself.” That was a bit more reassuring, but it still wasn’t enough to keep Maribelle’s mind from focusing solely on all negative possibilities there in that moment, until Lissa (and Owain, still clinging to her legs like she was a playground) came back into the room, Lon’qu following behind her looking completely unamused. “Ah yes, dear husband, wouldn’t you say there’s something we need to tell Maribelle?”

Without even glancing in her direction to see if she was giving him any physical cues for him to play off of, Lon’qu rolled his eyes and brought his arms across his chest, sighing as he realized he’d been put on the spot. “If it’s what I think it is, then yes, but if it’s anything but that then I don’t know what to tell you. Why are you so certain no one’s told her already?”

“I have my ways of knowing she remains unaware,” Panne replied, giving a genuine smile at Maribelle as she tried pulling herself away further. “She may be able to guess at this point but she wouldn’t have confirmation until—”

“Oh gods, is this you two telling me what the baby is?”

“—she asks that question.” It was almost as if that was what Panne had been expecting her to do, and that was when she let go of Maribelle’s hands, them immediately attaching themselves to the noticeably round and swollen curve of her stomach, complete with fingers tapping to try and create any kind of reaction. “Please, you couldn’t restrain yourself for five seconds while we told you what was going on? This is exactly why I was holding onto you, you’re just as bad as the man you married when it comes to being impatient!”

“As the…you already told Vaike whatever it is you’re telling me?” Her finger-tapping slowing to a stop, Maribelle looked at the seriousness in Panne’s face and wished that she hadn’t been so eager to get a crack at feeling her friend’s baby moving. “Why would you do that? Why does he deserve to get to know anything about this little one before I do?”

“He was still living here when we were discussing this particular thing, he may have overheard us and gotten involved then. It isn’t like he knows the gender of the baby, that’s not anything that we’re disclosing with anyone right now, so don’t think that he’s been let in on a secret of that magnitude.” Pausing as she watched the light fade from Maribelle’s eyes, that being the thing she figured she was going to be told there, Panne chuckled and added, “Don’t worry, we specifically wanted to frame this in this way to make you think that’s what you were going to be told, only to take that from you.”

While she still wasn’t happy that she knew her husband knew this before she did, Maribelle wasn’t too upset that it wasn’t something super groundbreaking that was being shared. “I guess that’s a sneaky thing to do, props to you both for considering doing it. But, uh, wouldn’t you possibly know what the baby is already? From what I read about the process of assisted conception methods, it seems to be possible that the parents can pick what the embryos that are implanted are beforehand.”

“Yes, that’s certainly a possibility, but we just want a child to love, we couldn’t afford to choose to be particular. And that’s why we’re staying far away from knowing until after birth, we want to go into this loving our child regardless of what they are.” Panne could feel Maribelle’s fingers start rapidly tapping again, as she accepted what she was hearing and going along with it. “Of course, this doesn’t mean that we don’t have a preference, but what if they’re not what we prefer? If we don’t know, we can’t make any judgments beforehand.”

“That’s such a good way to go about things,” Lissa chimed in, sounding rather happy as she spoke. “I mean, I couldn’t imagine _not_ knowing until you’re holding your baby in your arms, I had to know right away because not knowing would’ve killed me, but I’m so happy that you guys are committed to this idea!”

“You mean that she’s committed to the idea, I’m only along for the ride.” Leaning up against the wall, Lon’qu tried to act as casual as he could in the moment, but when his wife looked back at him with a firm smile he cracked and couldn’t maintain his composure. “She’s only doing this because she knows that she can love the child no matter what, but I will take some getting used to them if they’re…not what I’m hoping for.”

Maribelle was confused for a moment, trying to make sense of how keeping the baby’s gender a surprise from both parents would be a positive if that was how Lon’qu was going to be approaching the situation, but Panne quickly made it clear how it was going to work. “If we both get what we want, we’ll both be happy, but if he doesn’t get what he wants then he’ll have a second to decide if it’s worth staying around or not to raise a daughter when he’s not exactly fond of ladies in general.”

“The answer will be yes, I can assure you of that, but let’s hope that we don’t have to face that possibility.” Lon’qu seemed to be so composed while having this discussion, and it was strange that they’d even gotten to this point if there was the chance of him walking out just because the child could possibly be female. Maribelle wanted to ask about it, but she didn’t want to seem rude, yet she knew she was the only person there who realistically could ask anything on the matter—Lissa clearly knew more than she did already, and there was no doubt that he and Panne had talked about this very concern many times in all of their years trying to have a child.

But something was stopping her from asking about it, that being her need to act at least somewhat decent to her friends when in their house. She wasn’t going to be rude and press an issue that wasn’t actively a problem, not when it seemed there was already a fairly solid plan to handle it in place. Even still, it was clear that she had something on her mind, and Panne could tell it just looking at her. “You’re curious about something here, aren’t you?” she asked, trying not to sound like she thought there was an issue or anything of the sort. “Please, by all means, feel free to voice what you’re thinking about, chances are we have some kind of an answer for you.”

“I, uh, don’t know how I want to word what I want to ask,” Maribelle replied, knowing that it might have been fairly obvious that she was lying through her teeth. She couldn’t throw Lon’qu under the bus like that, not when she didn’t know what else had been said on the matter where she wasn’t listening, and the last thing she wanted was to anger someone and get herself removed from the scene. Thinking quickly about what to do, she came up with the first coherent idea she could and said it, just to get Panne off her back about her having something to say: “What are you going to do about the child’s name, if you don’t know what they’re going to be? Are you going to wait on that or what?”

“If this is about that joke I made one time, please don’t think I was being serious when I suggested that. I only said it to irritate a certain someone, and when we were discussing this with him I had to promise that what I said that night was never actually an option.” Closing her eyes and giving a small laugh as she thought back to that conversation in question, Panne grabbed one of her long braids and began wrapping it around her hand as she continued to explain herself. “However, there’s no need to worry about names, we’ve discussed those as well and although we won’t know for certain which one we’re using until the time comes, we have several options to work with.”

“All of which are names from her family, might I add,” Lon’qu said, to which Panne nodded in agreement. “There isn’t a single one coming from any source but someone that she was related to, just to stop any further suspicion about what they might be. We are not going to get super creative with this.”

That left an opening for Maribelle to ask what the names might be, if they weren’t the one she’d ever hear get thrown around, but without even looking at her to see that she was going to say something Panne was there to shoot her down. “We are not going tell you any of the possible names, just in case you ended up getting attached to one that we didn’t end up choosing. We’re doing this for our own sanity, keeping all of this information private, and maybe someday you’ll understand why that is.”

“That would require her wanting a child of her own, and having someone willing to give her one, and while I think half of that’s possible I kinda doubt the other part.” The way Lissa sounded so sure of the two parts of the problem made Maribelle realize how the chosen separation between herself and her husband was coming across to the person she was living with, and she decided right then that explaining what was going on to Lissa to get her in the know was a top priority once they were back at her house. But they ended up spending more time with Panne and Lon’qu than expected, and it was already past everyone’s bedtime by the time they left, meaning a very late dinner and no time for conversation was there for them that night.

And of course, by the next morning Maribelle had no interest in talking about the matter anymore, her restless night of sleep and her having to wake up for another day of work making her not want to touch that topic unless absolutely necessary. Dealing with the child clients at work was enough to get her mind off of everything related back to her husband, to the point that when she got off work she couldn’t be bothered to care about him and was fine with returning to the place where she was sleeping on a couch just to stay away from him. What good had he been for her when she was working on stressful cases in the past? None at all, that was how she felt, and it was fine that she wasn’t living with him while she was deep in abuse cases and trying to arrange new living arrangements for children who deserved better than what they had.

Her typical go-to place, the shelter that Miriel and Libra ran, wasn’t typically an option anymore after they’d taken in that abandoned child from nearly a year beforehand. On occasion they had room for another, older child to come stay with them until a new home was procured, but anyone younger than the age of two was difficult to place there; they’d taken one look at that baby and decided that they were going to raise him permanently, give him the love and attention that they felt he deserved after being abandoned, and it wasn’t right for Maribelle to expect them to take away time from their adopted son to help her with other young children in need. There were other options in town, but none of them were as good as sending the children somewhere that they would be genuinely cared for while waiting for new homes, but no matter how bad she felt about kids being shuffled into the foster system Maribelle knew that it was so that someone she knew could work on being the best mother she could possibly be.

Like every year, right after the holidays were over and lives were returning to normal there was an uptick in cases to handle, kids going back to school and being able to voice their home-life issues with teachers and authorities, which meant that Maribelle was busier than she typically was, sifting through cases to know which ones she needed to be part of and which ones would be settled outside of court. Children were always so insistent that their parents were being abusive just because they didn’t get them the proper gifts, or because they didn’t let them spend their break from school doing something they wanted to, and it was part of her job to tear apart the legitimate concerns from those kids who felt they weren’t being spoiled enough.

By the time the rush had finally died down and she was back to her normal workflow, it was the middle of February and she realized she’d been so busy with all the extra work that she hadn’t even noticed that Valentine’s Day had been a few days before. To try and make up for her ignorance, she unblocked her husband’s number and tried calling him, only to get the message that his phone was no longer in service. With that line of contact unavailable, she had to go through a chain of friends and acquaintances to get the message over to him that she still loved him and that she wished they could’ve spent the romantic holiday together, and despite everyone saying they passed the word on she never got anything back in return.

She didn’t know where he lived now, no one had even given her the address for the new house, and she couldn’t call him to ask him where he was at any time. Showing up unannounced at the main office of his job wasn’t appropriate under any condition whatsoever, and she wasn’t going to harass someone to get any news about him (although that was actually Lissa’s suggestion, and she even threw out names of people who’d be good to use for that idea). On the other hand, he knew where she was living and could have easily made some attempt to contact her in a way that wasn’t through her phone, since that wasn’t going to work for him if he no longer had a phone of his own.

“I’m at a loss as to what I should be doing here,” she admitted one morning before work, looking at herself in the mirror in Lissa’s bathroom, with her friend standing right next to her with her hands flying through her hair to clip in her extensions as fast as possible. “I’ve given him all the time in the world to reach back out to me, to rebuild what we have and restart our lives together, but it seems that he doesn’t have any interest in doing so. Am I in the wrong for feeling hurt by him not allowing for me to get through to him?”

“I wouldn’t say you’re in the wrong, but you definitely weren’t in the right when you blocked him and cut him off completely for so long. Knowing him, he probably thinks you hate him and that he shouldn’t waste his time trying to talk to you again!” Snorting as she laughed at what she’d said, Lissa followed up her statement by suggesting once more that Maribelle go pressure one of their friends into being a direct line of contact between them, something she was tempted to do but knew better than to entertain.

While they were still in there, getting Maribelle’s hair properly done for the day, the bathroom door came open, a small hand wedging its way through the crack before the door was pushed open fully. “Mama, Ma’belle, time for go!” Owain’s proud little voice called out, him stomping his feet as he came up behind the women and grabbed them both, making his mother nearly mess up in what she was doing as Maribelle turned her head to see who was touching her legs. “Time for go now!”

“Where’re we going, Owain? Must be somewhere important if you’re awake and bossing us around to go somewhere.” Working hard to finish up with Maribelle’s hair, Lissa couldn’t exactly look down to see what her son wanted from them, but she figured that he was just having harmless fun. It took a moment for something about the situation to dawn on her, and it was then that she pulled her hands out from the hair and grabbed her phone off the counter, checking the time on it. “Wait, why are you awake at seven in the morning? Back off to bed with you, mister!”

“I happened to wake him up when I was getting ready to leave for myself, and I’ve been trying to get him to sleep for over an hour now.” Poking his head in and only looking at Lissa because he wasn’t solid on how fully clothed the other woman present was, Frederick reached out to try and grab Owain, but the moment the boy realized his father was present he nestled himself closer into the two pairs of legs he was with. “If you’re going to ask why he thinks we’re going somewhere, I made the mistake of telling him it was time for me to leave and he wants to go as well.”

“Time for go,” the boy repeated, his voice muffled as he spoke directly into the bottom of the skirt Maribelle was wearing. She was glad it was a darker color and that any drool or spit he managed to get on it wouldn’t be visible, but at the same time she wished it was acceptable to tell the kid to get off of her legs and hang around solely on his mother’s.

Lissa had set her phone back down and had resumed work on Maribelle’s hair, now in the process of making sure the extensions fit in nicely with her natural hair, but just because she was mentally focused on her beauty task didn’t mean she wasn’t aware of what was going on. “That sounds like you made a mistake and want to push it on me to fix, and I’m not sure I’m okay with that. Why can’t you be late to work for once and get him back to sleep, so that I’m not making Maribelle late by not being able to finish her hair?”

“Is her hair really more important than being punctual to a job?” Frederick asked in reply, sounding slightly irritated that things had come to that point. “I understand that her appearance is a large part of who she is, and I respect it, but I could lose my position if I show up late more than once a quarter. Even with using Owain as an excuse, I doubt I could get away with tardiness today after having already been late once this week.”

“Are you going to blame me for you choosing to talk on the phone with my brother for half an hour before clocking in, when you weren’t even talking about me? Blame him, and don’t punish me for what you did!” Even though she was getting heated, it was clear that Lissa didn’t mind having to step in and fix what Frederick had done wrong too much. “I guess I can get Owain back to sleep if you getting to work on time matters so much to you, just don’t wake him up so early again next time!”

“Would have been easier if you two hadn’t already been in here getting her ready when I needed to ready myself. How about next time you both consider that there are others in the house who need to get themselves to work in the mornings?” After he fully stepped inside and kissed his wife and son both goodbye, and wished Maribelle a happy day at work, he left the room and they assumed he was on his way to work, which meant that they were free to finish up in there without any further distractions from anyone aside from the little boy still attached to their legs, talking away in sentence fragments only he could understand.

That day wasn’t the eventful one, but the morning had been spent getting ready because the following day was when it was going to be necessary. Maribelle loved looking her best whenever she could, and she’d only recently started to feel comfortable and regain her confidence in how she looked so making a big deal of her hair to get it looking like it had when she was younger felt important to her. Even living on couches and chairs with very few of her belongings hadn’t been able to completely destroy her quest for feeling good in her skin, and thanks to Lissa being willing to help her try new things every now and then she could say that she felt even better about herself than she had before she’d lost everything she owned.

But that wasn’t why they’d woken up early that day to do her hair, it was merely an added bonus to the whole thing. The following day happened to be Lissa’s birthday, and they had made plans to do like they had when they were younger and go out somewhere fancy, just the two of them; she didn’t want to look like a disaster by being expected to place her new clip-in extensions in her hair for the first time on her own, but she also didn’t want to burden Lissa with putting them in for her on her birthday. That meant that she got to go to work two days in a row looking much more put-together than she had in a long time, earning compliments and questions of who she was working to impress. “Oh, not impressing anyone, just going to be going out with my best friend,” she repeatedly answered, dodging whenever someone would follow up with questions about how her husband was taking her renewed care for her appearance.

If he could see her, he’d probably have been all over it and might have tried taking her to bed with him, but that required his presence and their paths crossing for the first time since she’d moved out of Lon’qu and Panne’s house back before the holiday season had even started. The questions should have been easily brushed off, she should have been able to move past and ignore them entirely, but the idea of Vaike seeing her and having any kind of reaction lingered in her mind long after the last person brought him up. Because of that, she spent most of the dinner she and Lissa had talking about him, asking how she thought he’d take her new brand of ringlets she was wearing, how much he’d like the way she carried herself now that she was more confident in who she was.

“I know the best way to get these answers,” Lissa told her, as they sat at a candlelit table waiting for their food to be delivered to them, “but you’ve told me no over and over again about it. We’ve just got to get someone we know still talks to him to go talk to him for you, easy as that!”

“And then what? They come back and tell me he’s not interested in continuing conversation with me? That only leads to heartache and I’m fairly certain that he’s been trying to avoid that for a long while.” Sighing, Maribelle knew that there wasn’t much that she could do in her current position aside from let him disappear from her life completely or do as Lissa was suggesting, but the idea of sending someone to speak with him on her behalf was completely insane to her. “I need to talk to him on my own, and I feel that asking someone who knows where he lives may be the only option I have.”

“If you want to talk to him yourself, that totally works too! Just make sure that someone’s there with you when you go, in case things get ugly, I’d hate for him to fight you and you not have anyone there to back you up.” Reaching a hand across the table to grab Maribelle’s and give it a tight squeeze, Lissa grinned at her friend and waited until she got a smile back in return. “Now can we please talk about something else, I don’t want to spend my whole birthday dinner talking about boy problems, we’re not high schoolers anymore!”

“That implies that we talked about this sort of thing when we’d get together while in school, but I suppose I see your point.” Maribelle could feel her fingers starting to go numb while in Lissa’s grasp, but she was too polite to cause a scene about the force she was using there. “I just don’t know what else there is for us to talk about, unless we wanted to focus on you for a change, rather than me.”

The gasp that came from Lissa’s mouth sounded like she’d just been told she was receiving a million dollars out of thin air, not that she could talk about herself. “I would be honored to get to have things be about me on my birthday,” she said, letting go of Maribelle’s hand (and ignoring as her friend had to shake it out to try and restore feeling in it). “You’re always talk-talk-talking about yourself and what’s going on with you that you never even let me say a word about what’s going on with me! Now where to start, hm…”

By the time their food had come to the table, Lissa had ran through several topics at breakneck speed and it didn’t seem like she’d even come close to exhausting everything she could possibly talk about, which was fine by Maribelle as giving little nods and noises of affirmation while eating was a lot easier than holding a full conversation. She could listen to her best friend talking about her adventures out at parks and in public places with her son all night if she needed to, and honestly it was a lovely change of pace to not have to be active in what was being discussed.

That did come to an abrupt end when Lissa realized that she was singlehandedly dominating their discussion, doing what she’d just chided her friend for doing all the time, and she left off on a point that Maribelle was going to have to reply to. “I know that we came out and did this just the two of us because this was our thing, going to fancy restaurants looking like royalty and dining like queens, but I kinda wish we had someone else here with us. I didn’t invite her because I didn’t think she’d be interested in coming, but I think we’d be having so much more fun if Panne was here, don’t you think so too?”

“I’m not so sure, she never seems to be one for social gatherings like this.” It was an honest response, but Maribelle was sure that it was something that Lissa had considered before choosing not to invite her. That was also the case with the other thought that crossed her mind, but that second thought felt more important than the one she’d already shared. “Plus, I don’t exactly think she would want to come out with us now anyway. Have you tried getting her to go anywhere with you lately? I invited her to go get her nails done the other day, just to spoil her a bit, and she told me she’d rather not leave the house unless necessary.”

“Oh yeah, I might’ve been the last person to get her to leave for something fun, actually.” Seeing that Maribelle looked suspicious of what she’d just said, Lissa had to clarify what she meant by that. “I told her that she needed to do one last sweep of the stores to see if there was anything she needed before the baby gets here, since she refused to let us throw her a baby shower to get it all taken care of, and so we went out and did that together. The only time I know she’s gone somewhere since then was when she went to make sure the birthing room is still booked for her when she needs it, and I bet she’s had appointments she’s gone to as well, but since I know she’s not wanting to leave I wasn’t gonna bother her about coming out with us for my birthday.”

“I can’t believe you just referred to shopping for essentials as ‘fun’, but I suppose impending parenthood does have its own qualities that I wouldn’t understand.” Hoping she didn’t sound bitter or jealous with that statement, Maribelle looked around the dining room to make sure their server wasn’t coming near to check on them, just to lean across the table and whisper as loudly as she could, “I hope she doesn’t get upset with either of us when she finds out we came here without her, just because she didn’t get invited.”

Lissa pursed her lips together in serious thought as Maribelle retreated back properly in her chair, before shrugging. “I don’t think she’ll get upset that we came without her, she might be sad we didn’t go spend tonight sitting at her house helping her fold all those clothes they’ve stockpiled, but I don’t think her being upset will happen.”

That was a true point that she’d just made, and Maribelle was going to speak in agreement to it but she found part of it that felt impossible to her. “Wait, did you say clothes? How in Naga’s name do they have enough clothes for the child when they don’t even know what they are? And not only that, but she’s folding them now? She’s been staying at home for over a month now, she’s had all the time in the world to get this done!”

“They didn’t care what color anything was as long as it was appropriate for a boy or a girl, so we might have given them a bunch of Owain’s old stuff on top of everything they bought brand new. Plus I know a bunch of the ladies at the hospital shared things as well, me and Cordy talked for a long time about how she was saving up all of Severa’s clothes to give to someone who needed them, so I think they’re set no matter what.” Lissa’s eyes quickly darted down to her plate in front of her, which had barely been picked from, and she laughed as she looked back up towards Maribelle, who was reaching for the bottle of free wine in the middle of the table that she’d been restraining herself from opening. “Now we just have to hope they save up everything they were given, for whoever we know next who has a baby!”

“Don’t look at me like that, it’s not going to be me.” To drive her point home, as if talking about how she was estranged from her husband hadn’t been reason enough, she popped the cork out of the bottle and poured herself a glass, before offering to do the same for Lissa, who refused. “Come on, it’s your birthday and you know that you want to get a little tipsy with me, just drink some.”

“I’m driving us home, I can’t. Besides I never liked the wine this place served for free, you’re the one who enjoys it, you drink as much as you want.” Even when Maribelle tried pouring the wine into her glass anyway, Lissa tried putting a stop to it, but all that ended up happening was wine being spilled on the tablecloth and both glasses being filled to the top. “You know you’re going to have to drink that for me, don’t you? Frederick will have my head if he finds out I drank anything and then drove after!”

Without an ounce of regret, Maribelle scooted her glass right to the edge of the table so she could sip from it, until it was depleted enough for her to be able to lift it without spilling. “I don’t see any issues with calling him to ask him to drive us back, he’d prefer us being safe and responsible over dead any night, wouldn’t he?”

“Yeah, but him having to come get us means him having to get Owain in the car and that’s a nightmare for anyone who isn’t me to do. I’m not drinking and that’s the end of that, now drink what you’ve poured and don’t try to give me more!” Her laughter at the end of her assertion showed that she wasn’t being too serious about what she was saying, even though her refusal of the wine was genuine. As they continued sitting there, she began to properly eat what she’d ordered, while Maribelle worked through the wine she’d decided she was going to drink, ending up finishing off both glasses at about the same time Lissa was finished eating. From there they continued talking, one quite obviously more coherently than the other, and by the time the check had been paid and the table cleared they’d exhausted all topics of conversation minus one they’d already approached before.

Even though she didn’t want to have to go home and return to normal life, Lissa didn’t exactly want to get Maribelle drunkenly started on talking about her husband and their complicated relationship. She’d been trying to come up with good ways for them to fix it—mostly so Maribelle wouldn’t keep sleeping in her living room with books scattered all around her—but everything she’d suggested had been shot down, and her current suggestion of forcing contact wasn’t being accepted either. There was the chance that drunk Maribelle would listen to that and go through with it, but it wasn’t worth the risk of starting her on a tirade about how much she hated being married and hated being attached to someone and that she was happier being on her own.

Or, as ended up happening on the ride home, she would start crying about how much she loved her husband and how she wished she could just talk to him and tell him that she loved him, so that they could get back together and have their lives perfectly in order. “I just want him to tell me where he lives so I can sleep with him again like we used to,” she said, words garbled but her thought shining through clearly. “I want him to remember he loves me too, and let me into his bed, and sleep with me so that we can have all the cute babies we could ever want.”

“Gods, Maribelle, you drank half the bottle of wine and you’re this drunk? What’s happened to you, you used to take down a whole bottle and just be a little wobbly.” Smiling as she let her friend do her own thing in the passenger’s seat of the car, Lissa hadn’t intended on getting more involved than that until Maribelle reached over and grabbed her arm, shaking it intensely. “Ouch, what do you want? Can’t you use your adult words to ask, instead of digging your nails into me?”

“I just started thinking about babies, that’s all.” Even though she’d just been scolded about the grabbing thing, Maribelle didn’t bother letting her grip loosen on Lissa’s arm, even as she started rambling on. “I’ve really wanted a baby for a long time now, I told you about wanting one, I think, but I never told you that I almost had one once. Or twice. Was it twice? I think it was twice.”

“Sure it was, now please let go of me before you scratch me and Frederick thinks Owain did it. Do you really want him getting in trouble because you wanted to be clingy and tore me up?” To try and deter Maribelle from continuing, Lissa started shaking her arm, but all that caused was for her to dig her nails in deeper. “Okay, fine, you’re not going to let go at all, that’s cool. You’re drunk and I’m not going to listen to you tell me stories that might not be true, just for you to forget you told me anything.”

If that was supposed to make her want to stop, it did the exact opposite, and Maribelle would have started climbing out of her seat and into her friend’s if they weren’t in a moving vehicle. “No, I’m serious, I was going to have a baby once or twice, I’m pretty sure twice, and everything went wrong fast. I didn’t want anyone to know except the people who were there for any of it. I think we might’ve been on a break when this happened? Maybe? No, wait, you called me after the second time, I could’ve told you about that one.”

“Maribelle, please, I don’t like that you’re making up these stories. This is a happy day, it’s my birthday, I don’t need you telling me sad things to ruin the night.” Even with her being honest like that, it wasn’t going to stop Maribelle from droning on and on about how she’d lost two children, even if the details about everything weren’t coming to her clearly. The rambling lasted the whole time it took for them to get from the restaurant’s parking lot back to the house, and by the time they were walking towards the front door Lissa had heard enough of what Maribelle was trying to tell her. With tears in her eyes from being overwhelmed by how much pain and loss her friend was claiming she’d experienced, she grabbed her into a hug while standing outside the house, burying her face into Maribelle’s neck. “I don’t know if you’re telling the truth or not, but I can’t stand hearing about mommies who lost their babies! It makes me feel really lucky to have never had that happen to me!”

“Yeah, yeah, you and your perfect little son,” Maribelle said, sounding unhappy to be being hugged, but also just incoherent enough that it was clear her unhappiness was due to not being the one controlling the conversation anymore. “I’m glad that Panne never talks to me like she pities me, she’s lost so many more than—”

“You think I’m pitying you? That’s not it at all! Ugh, but I don’t know how I can prove this to you without, like, going inside and getting something but I’m not pitying you one bit, I’m just saying that I’m lucky to not have lost a baby yet!” Pushing Maribelle out of the hug so she could grab her shoulders and stare her straight in the face, Lissa had tears trickling out of the corners of her eyes as she tried to hold eye contact with her friend. “Your day will come sometime soon, I can feel it, and I mean _really_ soon. Maybe after we get you talking to Vaike again some kind of magic will happen and you will…you’ll get your happy ending!”  
Blinking slowly as she tried processing why Lissa was crying right at the moment, Maribelle realized that she’d stopped paying attention somewhere in the middle of what had just been said. “Did you tell me I’m going to see my husband again, after he cut me off and wanted nothing to do with me?”

“That’s the part of that you caught on to? Please, I was really hoping you would, I don’t know, notice that I said something particular and call me out on it, but you’re so drunk I don’t think you know what’s going on at all.” Sniffling after speaking, Lissa nodded towards the front door to the house. “Come on, let’s go inside and get you to bed, we can just keep talking about this in the morning if you remember any of it.”

The plan hinged entirely on Maribelle remembering a word of what she’d said that night, and that idea was completely shot when she woke up in the morning with a massive headache and only vague memories of everything that had happened in the time after opening the wine bottle. But just because she wasn’t fully aware of what she’d said didn’t mean that Lissa didn’t remember, and before the end of the day she was approached for elaboration about what she had said. Tears were shed once more, but best friends finally had erased all time of non-communication that had cropped up between them in the past and were both fully aware of everything that had happened to the other in the last nearly seven years of their lives.

Those tears were sad when it came to what Maribelle had needed to say, and much happier when it came to Lissa’s side of events, and they ended up running the whole spectrum of emotions by the time they were done catching each other up.

* * *

One of the things they kept going back to was Lissa’s idea of using force and a middleman to get Maribelle talking to her husband once more, and after deciding on who would be easiest to rope into helping her out the ladies then came up with a way to convince them to assist. It meant showing up at the front door of Lon’qu and Panne’s house without any kind of forewarning, coming at a time that they knew he’d be around so that they could talk to him (and her as well, but as she was at the point where she could go into labor at any time they didn’t want her to get too worked up about what they were planning). True to their assumptions he was the one to open the front door after they’d knocked, looking between them with a raised eyebrow before stepping aside and letting them in.

“I assume you’ve been called over because Panne requested company,” he said, not giving them a second glance once they were inside the house. “She’s been miserable for most of the day, complaining about every little muscle movement that she’s felt. I suppose I cannot say anything rude about her, as I don’t know what she’s going through, but she’s become overdramatic about everything and I’m tired of hearing it.”

“That sounds like it’s getting close to time for her to get checked in,” Lissa remarked, giving Maribelle a side-eye as she tried to figure out how to say what they were really there for. “Maybe I can check on her to make sure being here’s still a good idea, while Maribelle talks to you about what we really came over for.”

As she walked past him without even asking where his wife was, Lon’qu let his eyes follow her until she was out of sight, then he was back to ignoring Maribelle’s physical presence. “You both aren’t here to speak with Panne? How odd, that’s usually why you come over at this house. Then again, when you’ve done that in the past it has been because she’d predictably be at work until now.”

“I’m really sorry, but no, I’m not here because of Panne at all, even though I’ll be staying because of her once I’m done with you. I need a favor from you, one that can be done easily and quickly depending on how you want to go about it.” Every word she was saying felt heavy, as if she was trying to spit out something that really did not want to budge. “I promise it’s not illegal, and it’s definitely not impossible, and it’s something that you can do that I just…can’t, actually.”

“How interesting and unexpected,” he said, going from ignoring that she was there to watching her, due to how hesitant she seemed to be to properly approach her topic. “On with it, I suppose. There’s nothing else for me to do right now, aside from accompany Lissa with what she’s doing.”

Since his mind was clearly elsewhere as they were speaking, Maribelle knew she had one shot to get this through to him and she needed to make it count, but as she opened her mouth to make her simple request she mentally talked herself out of it. “N-never mind, it isn’t nearly as important as making sure Panne’s okay, I don’t know why I would consider saying this now, of all times.”

“If it’s so important to you that you came over just to ask about it, you’ll come back to it at some point. Don’t forget whatever it is, I was willing to hear it now and I may be willing to hear it later.” Lon’qu continued watching her, seeing how she had tensed up in those last moments before bailing from her attempt and how she was slowly returning back to her usual posture. “Now are you going to come see the woman of the house or are you going to hang around here until your friend is ready to leave?”

He was starting to shuffle towards the hallway, and Maribelle didn’t want to hold him up but she also didn’t want to be in too close of quarters with him while what she’d wanted to ask him still weighed heavily on her mind. “I guess I’ll come with you, do you think she’ll be okay with all three of us in the room, though? If she’s so bent on complaining about everything, won’t she just complain when the two of us walk in with Lissa already there?”

“That is a risk I’m willing to take right now, as much as she’s begun to get on my nerves today. I cannot hold anything she says against her right now, not when she…” He fell silent as he stopped shuffling and began properly walking towards the bedroom, Maribelle looking around in confusion at what had made him stop talking and get to moving before she followed him down the hall. The bedroom had been rearranged at some point, so that the bed wasn’t in the middle of everything to make room for all of the baby-related items they’d acquired, but the change in décor wasn’t what caught Maribelle’s eye when she walked in.

Instead it was how, in the seconds between Lon’qu coming into the room and her making it there herself, he had gotten right onto the floor to Panne’s side, as she was laying on top of a large exercise ball, her face contorted in pain. “I think I get why she’s been complaining all day,” Lissa remarked, from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed with her legs dangling down. “She’s totally almost ready to pop, I just don’t get how she hasn’t demanded she be taken elsewhere yet.”

“That would be because I’m fully aware that if we go, we’ll be sent back home until we’re at a closer point. I’ve done my research, I’ve worked with enough new mothers and their sickly children, I’ve heard all the stories I possibly can at this point.” Every few words were followed by a pause as Panne bit down on her tongue, trying to keep herself calm given the circumstances. “When it is time to leave I will know it, but until then I’ll keep with what I’m currently doing.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Lissa told her in a sing-song voice, which had everyone in the room looking at her for her seemingly unserious behavior in the moment. “I mean, haven’t you heard of the moms who wait too long and end up having their babies in cars and at restaurants and while shopping? Do you really want to give birth here in your bedroom, because you didn’t want to leave until it was too late?”

“There is absolutely no chance of this child coming out naturally, so your point is invalid.” Immediately going back to having her eyes closed to try and block out some of what was bothering her, Panne heard the loud “what?” that Lissa gave in response to her. “You weren’t aware of that fact, were you? They’re not positioned properly, haven’t been at any point, and unless a miracle has happened there’s no way that’s changed. Hence why I can say I know when it’s time to leave, because it is ultimately my call on when they are to be born.”

In surprise at what she’d just heard, Lissa got off of the bed and dropped to her knees at Panne’s side, locking eyes with Lon’qu on the other side. “I still don’t think that’s a good idea, but I don’t think me saying that’s going to be enough to convince you of that, is it?” she asked, immediately mouthing something afterwards that was meant to be seen by the person she was staring down and no one else.

“Maybe you should leave her alone about this, she’s the mother here,” Maribelle said, a feeling of not wanting to be present for what was happening starting to fill her heart. As much as she loved these people that were there, the whole idea of them arguing about what the expectant mother should be doing in regards to her own child was rubbing her the wrong way. “I mean, did you have someone telling you that you should’ve been doing something differently before you had Owain?”

“Yeah, actually, Sumia was there coaching me through a lot of everything because she’d been through it before, twice!” Holding up two fingers as if they proved her point, Lissa didn’t even bat an eyelash in Maribelle’s direction, instead taking the time to mouth something else towards Lon’qu, who was starting to go pale at whatever she was telling him. “We need to think about this in terms of what’s best for everyone, mother, baby, and all of the rest of us!”

“I’ve gone this long without having to deal with…certain pieces of this puzzle, I would prefer to keep things that way,” Lon’qu finally said in regards to Lissa’s mouthed words, rising back to his feet and thrusting a hand down towards Panne to try and get her to get to her feet as well. “Come on, we’re leaving and getting you into proper care so I don’t have to potentially deal with anything that might happen if we stay here too long.”

“The only way you’re getting me to leave is if there’s an actual reason for it, and as I’m just uncomfortable because of how the child’s currently positioned, there is zero reason at all to leave.” To drive her point home, Panne rolled further back onto the ball, dodging the hand that was being held in front of her without ever seeing it there. “Why don’t the three of you let me take control of this situation and call the shots, rather than you try to force me into what you think is best?”

When Lon’qu started to reply in the same forceful tone that they needed to go before he had to deal with anything, Maribelle decided that she’d heard enough of what was going on and left the room, going back out to the living room before turning into the kitchen. If she was going to be there for a while, and she didn’t know how long it’d be since she and Lissa rode over together, she could at least try and be a little helpful and do some kind of meal preparation or something for her friends. But she found the kitchen to be mostly empty, with only frozen meals to be found, and there weren’t any little housekeeping duties that seemed to need to be taken care of. For the first time in a long time, she’d actually felt like keeping house, and she was being denied the chance without anyone telling her anything.

She still wanted to do something helpful but her options were rather limited given where she was, so instead of trying to find something else to do she hopped up onto the countertop and sat there as if she belonged, looking around at the completely spotless kitchen she was in. If this was her old house, there’d have been at least one bottle of wine or something for her to tap into while she waited around, but she was in the house of people strongly against alcohol so it was no surprise she didn’t see anything of the sort. There weren’t any dishes in sight, and all the cabinets were closed tightly but she knew that everything inside of them was perfectly in place. “It’s been so long since I had my own house that I kind of honestly miss having my own kitchen,” she remarked, thinking about some of the fun times she’d had in her kitchen before she’d lost it.

That had happened almost a year ago, she realized, and so much in her life and the lives of the people around her had changed since then. Yet even after all those changes, all she wanted to do right then was clean someone’s kitchen—which was completely unlike her, she’d never grown fond of being a housewife and she was proud of that. “Why are you on the counter?” Lon’qu asked, catching Maribelle by surprise as she hadn’t heard him enter, but when he opened the fridge and got a chilled bottle of water out she figured he’d come in to get a drink and collect himself. “Last I recall, no one gave you permission to do that.”

“Sorry, I guess I just started thinking and needed a higher place to do it.” She climbed down and bowed her head in apology, while he shook it all off and started to head back to the bedroom with his water in hand. “Why’d you come get that, why didn’t you just yell for me to get it for you? I’m sure you knew I hadn’t left, I could’ve done it.”

“Perhaps I wanted to take a moment to step away from what I’ve been dealing with all day? Especially after what Lissa had the nerve to tell me, I needed a bit of a breather.” It was then that Maribelle noticed he was still looking pale, almost as if something had shaken him to his core. “But now I’ll be fine and I can resume what I was doing.”

“Can you really though?” The answer she was given was him walking off, leaving her in the kitchen alone once more. “Yeah, something tells me you’re going to be back out here soon enough if something Lissa said is enough to make you get all squeamish. Do you think this whole process is clean and easy?”

She wasn’t given an answer, and she hadn’t expected to get one, but as an act of rebellion against what had just happened she jumped back up onto the counter, this time not to look around but rather to browse through her phone. Without thinking about what it was she was doing, she ended up in her photos, scrolling through all sorts of different memories that she’d saved over the past few years, almost all of which were selfies that she’d taken with various people in the background. While she did linger on some longer than others, all of the ones she went past without dwelling on had one person in common in the image, and she couldn’t stomach seeing his face right then. She loved her husband, she really did, but getting lost in looking at him while she couldn’t bring herself to get someone to help her talk to him wasn’t going to benefit her one bit.

Somehow she’d moved from pictures to videos, and from there she went to looking through all of the music she’d collected in the time since she’d gotten that phone, and it was while she was considering starting to play songs on shuffle that Lon’qu came back into the kitchen, not even displeased that she’d gotten back onto the counter. As she was getting back down he was talking to her as if she hadn’t been disobeying what he’d already told her: “Maribelle, would you be interested in assisting with something, right now? It’s an urgent matter, if you need any further prompting.”

“You sound pretty shaken, I suppose I could help out.” She was hopeful his next words wouldn't be along the lines of telling her not to get on the counter again, but she wasn’t expecting him to not reply to her at all, instead turning to leave the kitchen once more with speed in his step. Without any solid idea what he was going on about, she felt obligated to follow him, and found that they were going right back down towards the bedroom. It hadn’t been that long since she’d initially left to go chill by herself in the kitchen, so she didn’t think too much about what she might be being led in to see, but when she heard Lissa begging for cooperation in the sternest voice she could muster, Maribelle knew that something major had happened since she’d left.

The exercise ball that Panne had been laying on was nowhere in sight, the woman now laying on her back on the floor with no intentions of moving anywhere, despite Lissa standing over her trying to get her up. “I was thinking we could all work together to bring her to her feet and get her out of here,” Lon’qu explained, acknowledging that Maribelle had followed him back into the bedroom. “With everything I hear either one of them say I grow more wary of us still being here, yet Panne refuses to leave.”

“That’s because there is no reason for me to go anywhere yet,” she replied, not so much as cracking an eye open to see where the person she was talking to was standing. “You have to trust in me and my understanding of my body, I know that you are all jumping to major conclusions but I see or feel no reason to leave.”

“You’re missing the entire point of why he’s worried about this!” Her hands gripping the sides of her head as she stared down at the woman she was standing over, legs straddling her sides, Lissa glanced towards Lon’qu for a second before going right back to staring at Panne’s face. “He doesn’t want to have your blood on his hands if something goes wrong, which obviously it’s going to if you’re so certain that baby’s not turned around right!”

Once again, Maribelle wanted to remind them that they should be listening to what Panne was saying, because she was the one who knew the situation best, but she could feel the pure panic that had taken hold in the other two and she was aware that they wouldn’t be calm until something happened. “Hold on now, I’m not an expert on babies and I’ll never pretend to be one, but isn’t a woman supposed to wait for her water to break before she heads to wherever she’s planning on giving birth? Or wait for contractions to start?”

“Well, yeah, you don’t want to go too early, but obviously we don’t want her to endanger her life or her baby’s life by staying here!” For a moment, Lissa sounded surprised that Maribelle had been the one to throw out those two situations, but she let that surprise fade from her mind as she kept talking. “Besides, I happen to know for a fact that at least one of those two things has happened, or it’s about to happen, Panne won’t say either way.”

“If she hasn’t said, how do you—”

“Maribelle, it would do you better to not question that too much.” Cutting her off without even giving her a chance to rush finishing her statement, Lon’qu gestured towards where his wife was laying on the floor with a pointed finger, specifically at her lower half. “You work on holding her legs down until we have her seated, then all three of us can work together to get her standing. We aren’t staying here a minute longer.”

Although she was curious about what had happened in her absence that made Lissa so sure of what she’d said, that also had Lon’qu acting more worried than before, Maribelle wasn’t going to press the issue and hold up any further progress. It wasn’t until she was in place, sitting with her knees on Panne’s feet so that she didn’t raise them and the other two could get her sitting up, that she realized that there was something off about part of her friend’s clothing. From her angle, it looked like someone had tried pulling her pants off of her, leaving them partially bunched up in places while not even properly adjusted for her body, and that was concerning to see. Her mouth open to ask out loud about it, Lissa happened to look towards her and give a firm shake of her head, causing her to snap her mouth right back to being closed.

“You should know that, as an ex-nurse, I know a thing or two about checking out patients to make sure they’re fine,” Lissa explained once she knew Maribelle wasn’t going to say anything. “So that’s exactly what I did here, I used my limited experience with women coming in while in labor without realizing it and gave our dear friend a checkup that she’s refusing to believe me about.”

“I’m refusing to believe you because all you’re doing is concerning my husband and making him want to force me into doing something I’m not yet ready for.” Even with two people trying to pull her off the floor, Panne was doing a rather good job keeping her flat position, but they all knew it was only a matter of time before she gave up completely. “While I do appreciate that you did the work of the doctors for them, you merely gave it your best guess and possibly scarred Lon’qu for life with it.”

“It isn’t my fault he looked when I told him not to!” Her retort came in conjunction with Lon’qu asserting that he wasn’t scarred at all, but if Maribelle had to pick one of them as telling the truth it wasn’t going to be him. “I’m still amazed that I didn’t strip you down and see, like, the top of the baby’s head or something, so I guess you might be telling the truth about them being flipped around wrong.”

That led to the two of them having a back-and-forth about that aspect of the whole situation, and it was somewhere in the middle of their arguing that they were able to get her off the floor, getting her to stand on her own two feet rather quickly once she wasn’t laying down any longer. From there, after Maribelle adjusted her pants properly for her for modesty’s sake, they were able to convince her that perhaps listening to Lissa was the best idea, since she had some experience with that particular sort of thing, but getting from the house to the hospital wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.

Namely, someone decided that she was going to stop cooperating unless they took her to get something to eat before they checked her in. “I know that once I’m in the room, they won’t let me eat, so just in case that’s the outcome I’d prefer to go in having already been fed,” she explained, despite Lon’qu just wanting to get to the hospital and neither of the other women knowing whether or not it was smart to fulfill that request. But the driver got to make the decision, and as that was Maribelle through a chain of “please don’t make me drive” complaints that the other two had, she wasn’t going to deny her friend what she wanted before forcing her into something that she had no interest in doing.

Nearly an hour later they were finally where they’d intended to go, with everyone feeling almost identically to how they’d felt when they’d left the house. That all changed once they were inside the hospital’s doors and being directed up to the birthing rooms after checking in, nurses and doctors who saw them all stopping to speak with the people there they recognized. Not wanting the extra attention surrounding them, a lot of yelling and demanding to be given some privacy was done, so that once she was settled into her room (the staff was already fully aware of the situation that she was in and were prepared to handle things as soon as they felt it was critical), the only people coming in to check on Panne were people that neither she nor Lissa were familiar with.

Since they’d all ridden over together, Maribelle knew that at some point she and someone else would have to leave to get a second car, so that all four of them weren’t trapped there overnight or weren’t abandoning people without a way to get home, but she didn’t want to suggest it in case everyone else really wanted to stay. Her mind was wandering even as she sat in that room, waiting for updates on what they were going to do about the turned-around baby and their stubborn mother who didn’t want much in the way of help, and she must have really spaced out to the point that someone was touching her to get her attention. “Your phone’s going off,” Lissa kindly said to her, sounding embarrassed for her friend as she knew the rules about having phones on in the upper floors of the hospital like the back of her hand. “I didn’t answer it, but it’s a number you don’t have saved so there’s that.”

Without really orienting herself back in reality, Maribelle grabbed her phone off of the arm of the chair she was in, where Lissa had put it after checking it herself, and answered it without looking. The voice on the other end sounded concerned, almost as if they’d tracked her to being in the hospital but weren’t aware she wasn’t there for herself, but when they said that someone she cared about was there and that she was their emergency contact on file she had to pause before saying, “I’m…sorry? I don’t think there’s anyone who’d have me as their contact aside from the people I’m here with right now.”

The person she was speaking to didn’t even show an ounce of hesitation as they explained who, exactly, it was that they were calling on behalf of, and the moment his name left their lips she felt her blood run cold. Without waiting for any kind of elaboration as to what the meaning behind the call was, she hung up and headed for the exit of the room, explaining to the others that she’d be back soon enough, that she had some business to take care of somewhere else in the building.

It wasn’t until she was riding the elevator down to the main floor that she realized it looked like she was putting work before her friend having a baby, but she knew she’d have a chance to explain herself once she was back in the room. This wasn’t work that she was dealing with, though, and they’d know that soon enough—for now, she was going to have to accept that she’d gotten called out of an important event to play the role of emergency contact for someone she hadn’t spoken to in months. Thanks to having identification on her that labeled her as legally having the same last name as the man she was supposed to be seeing, she was able to get directed to a different room on a much lower floor of the building, where she came out of the elevator to see nurses she’d crossed paths with before when coming to do visits with Lissa.

The room she was looking for this time was right by the nurses’ station, which meant it was close to being able to get off the floor and back to what she had been doing as soon as possible. The door was already slightly ajar when she got to it, and upon pushing it open she saw a familiar redheaded woman on the other side, smiling when she saw that it was Maribelle standing there. “Why, what a surprise to see you, Mari!” Cordelia said, her eyes crinkling closed as she smiled at the person who was trying to come in. “I had no idea that you’d be so slow in getting here, Vaike’s still a bit out of it from what they just did to him so you missed getting to see him completely delirious from pain, thank everything.”

“What do you mean, I was slow getting here? They just called me, I’ve been here for a little while now with someone else and I got here literally as fast as I could.” Trying to see around her but being prevented with every duck and weave, Maribelle knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get away from Cordelia super easily. “And what’s even going on with him, I had no idea I was his emergency contact still after everything that’s happened, and whoever called me to tell me he was here didn’t say a word about why!”

“Oh, that’s tragic, he’s been here for a couple hours and was asking for you the whole time until they put him under to be able to set the break.” Her eyes weren’t focusing on anything, as she was trying to dodge Maribelle’s gaze the whole time, but eventually Cordelia turned around and stepped up against the wall to let her pass her by. “I was specifically asked to be in charge of him, since if it wasn’t for my daughter this wouldn’t have happened and my husband feels entirely responsible for this.”

“So was he working at your house?” Cordelia gave a soft _uh-huh_ as her response, which made Maribelle want to run past her and look at the man in the room before he could realize she was there. “Neat, I hope that he gets all the money he needs out of you for this.”

“He just happened to get sent to our home after we placed a work request, don’t think that we specifically hired him. Now go in there and be at his side like a good wife, I’ll be back in a bit once he should be awake to check on him then.” Giving Maribelle the okay to do as she pleased, Cordelia waited until she’d gone further into the room before she stepped out, closing the door behind her to give them some privacy for whatever was going to happen.

That was the thing, Maribelle realized, as she found herself as the only person awake and aware in the room: she didn’t know what was going to happen. The last time she’d spoken to him had been at his birthday, and she’d done her best to try and contact him once she’d noticed that she’d been neglecting him, only for him to have cut her off at that point. What were they going to talk about once he was awake, the fact that this was their first conversation in a while? Were they going to discuss what had happened to him to get him in this position? There were so many possibilities that she didn’t know what to prepare for.

Settling up against the wall, not even wanting to sit down and get comfortable as she waited, she positioned herself to where she’d see any kind of movement he’d make as he woke up. From her vantage point she was able to get a solid look at what had happened to him, his entire leg wrapped up in bandages and held in a sling that must’ve been keeping it elevated to prevent too much swelling. If this were really a work accident, he must have fallen or had something dropped on him to cause him to break a leg, and as Cordelia had said it was her daughter’s fault she was leaning more towards the former option. That was going to prevent him from getting any work done for a long while, which meant that money was going to become a lot tighter for him than it had been before, but why did she care what his finances looked like? It wasn’t like he’d been paying for anything of hers at any point recently, all of her belongings were paid for from her account, not his.

A pang of sadness took hold in her heart as she watched him, knowing that he wasn’t dead but rather that he just wasn’t fully awake; even though she knew he was alive she couldn’t talk to him as he was, and as they needed to discuss so much her spending her time there waiting for him was dragging on. The temptation was there to leave, to go back up to the higher floor to check on what was going on there before deciding what to do next, but she didn’t want to get wrapped up in something else and never remember to come back to him. If she was going to do this, she needed to stay right where she was until they were able to have a proper conversation, and then after that she could leave as she pleased.

However long it was that she was standing there waiting, it was long enough that Cordelia had come back into the room, standing at the edge of the bed and shaking her head at what she saw. “For goodness sake, you’re a horrible faker when it comes to pretending to be asleep,” she chided, flicking a finger against the clipboard in her hands, which made the person in the bed flinch to hear. “What, did you see that your wife was in here and hope she’d leave before you had to really be awake?”

“That ain’t it at all, didn’t even know she was here,” Vaike’s drowsy-sounding voice replied, making Maribelle stiffen up to hear. “How’d ya manage t’get her here, of all the people in all the places?”

“I was your emergency contact, moron.” Snapping without realizing she had, Maribelle pushed herself off the wall and went to stand at Cordelia’s side, all feelings of sadness or worry leaving her body as she got to see her husband’s eyes staring at her, him clearly dazed but rather coherent. “Which, by the way, you can go ahead and change that to someone you actually want to talk to.”

It took him a few moments to know what she’d said, and a couple more after that to understand the meaning behind her words. “Who said I didn’t wanna talk t’ya? You’re the one who cut off talkin’ t’me, I just—”

“Don’t give me your excuses, I know that you changed your number to keep me from being able to reach out to you, because I tried! I really tried!” Even with Cordelia standing there, asking her in her usual voice to quiet down and not sound so aggressive, it was hard for Maribelle to restrain herself now that she was finally getting to face down who she’d been wanting to speak with for so long. “I tried to go back to you to be your loving wife, but the only one who stopped me from it was _you_!”

“Can you please put this discussion on hold so that I don’t get false vital readings?” Cordelia cut in, holding an arm out in front of Maribelle to show that she wasn’t allowed to get any closer to the man in the bed. “The last thing we want is to have to medicate someone without a real need for it, which could result from those numbers coming back incorrect. He’s here because he fell from a ladder and snapped his leg after it got caught, we shouldn’t be needing to start him on some other medicinal program unrelated to the accident.”

Only because she didn’t want to cause any issues for the hardworking staff of the hospital, Maribelle took a couple steps back towards the wall and distracted herself while the routine check happened, Cordelia speaking the whole time about the incident that had landed him in his position and how sorry she felt for being partially responsible for it. Her distraction came in the form of the friendly whiteboard on the wall that said all the important information the patient would need to know, including the nurse’s name, and seeing that Cordelia had put her full first name on the board, not the diminutive nickname she’d used every other time she’d been in a room where she was the nurse, it gave her an idea for what to do once the room was open for discussion.

But when Cordelia stepped back out and promised to return at least once more before her shift was over (said to Maribelle more than anything, oddly enough), the floor had been opened up for both of them to speak and yet neither did. Maribelle was still working on her idea, debating whether or not it was worth her time and energy to go for it, and Vaike was just staring at her, almost in disbelief that she was actually there in the flesh. “I tried callin’ ya for a long time, ‘bout once a week,” he recalled, his eyes locked firmly on the back of her head as she hadn’t turned around from looking at the board. “But it always went t’voicemail, which I never left ‘cause I knew ya wouldn’t check it. All my other messages never showed that ya read ‘em, even though we swore we wouldn’t turn that setting off, so I kinda knew ya were blockin’ me outta your life for some reason.”

“Doesn’t excuse you doing the same to me, you knew that I separated myself from you while I was doing a lot of stressful work things, to keep you from having to deal with them.” Her heartbeat was picking up as she began to consider turning back around to properly face him, but she didn’t feel quite ready to get everything over with. “I was thinking about work, what’s your reason for blocking me?”

“I don’t have a phone anymore, that’s my excuse. You’re the only one I ever called on it, you or work, so I just went t’havin’ a cheap phone at the house that work could call me on. Not like ya wanted me callin’ ya, so I didn’t see the issue.” Pausing as he found himself lost in staring at Maribelle’s face as she finally turned around, disgust apparent in her glare and sneered expression, Vaike tried forcing a smile to get her to change her feelings but couldn’t manage more than a tiny one. “I still love ya, Maribelle, ain’t anythin’ changed about that.”

“I understand that nothing’s changed about how you feel about me, or about how I feel about you, but…” Inhaling deeply as she thought about the lasting impact what she was about to say was going to have, Maribelle let her chest rise and fall with several subsequent deep breaths before she came out with what was on her mind. “It’s obvious that what’s best for the two of us isn’t what we’ve been trying to make happen for so long.”

“What’re ya sayin’, huh?” Confined to the bed and unable to even sit up thanks to how his leg was positioned, all Vaike could do was turn his head slightly against the pillow propping it up, his jaw dropping at Maribelle’s honesty about how she felt. “Are ya tellin’ me that all of this hasn’t been worth it? I’ve been workin’ so hard to make our house perfect, like the old one was, that’s how I got into this mess today anyway, tryin’ t’make the money I need t’make our house feel right!”

She wanted to remind him that she’d never seen the house that he was speaking of, but that would inevitably rub salt into the wounds she was creating. “That’s a lovely gesture, but it’s beyond clear that I’m not meant to be living in that home with you, seeing as you refused to hear me when I wanted to come back, nearly a month ago.”

“Ya must’ve tried contactin’ me right after I shut my phone off then, ‘cause it was still workin’ through Valentine’s Day, and ya didn’t make any effort t’call me!” He was trying to reach out towards her with his one available arm, but she was just out of his grasp. “Please, Mari, I know I’m not a perfect guy but y’know I love ya more than anythin’!”

“I know you do, but sometimes people who love each other just don’t work out.” She could tell that she was breaking his heart with what she was saying, and as much as it felt good to get these bottled-up thoughts out of her mind it hurt all the same. “I’m not saying I hate you, because I don’t, I’ve always loved you and I always will, but I think that it’s for the best if we go our separate ways from here. You’ve started to take me out of your life, now let’s go through with finishing the process.”

The sheer power of what she’d just said hit Vaike like a train, making him yell out with zero regard of the situation he was in. “Are ya thinkin’ about what you’re sayin’ t’me? I’m not gonna lose ya just because ya think I was ignorin’ ya, I had my reasons for it! And you…and you were the one who left without tellin’ me a word, blockin’ my number and pretendin’ like you were in the right! It shouldn’t be you sayin’ that we’re done, it should be me, since I’m the one who got left out ‘a everythin’!”

“What I did was best for everyone, I was sleeping on the couch anyway so why not move somewhere that I could do that without disturbing anyone? And I kept myself away until I wasn’t going to be burdening you with everything about my job, so…yeah, I’m done here.” Without a smile, a wave, even a reassurance that she did still love him, she headed for the door, making an attempt to leave the room to the sound of him calling for her by her full name—something that made her stop and turn on her heels to face him over. “I’ve professionally been going by my maiden name for years now, it’d do you a world of good to start referring to me in such a manner,” she told him, before making her exit.

Whatever state she’d left him in wasn’t her problem any longer, and she was hoping that this wasn’t a huge mistake to handle everything like she just had, but what was done couldn’t be taken back and now she needed to make sure it stayed that way. Cordelia happened to be at the nurses’ station when she came out of the room, and as she was the nurse on duty for that particular room there was something she needed to know before she re-entered. “Based on how you look like you’re about to cry, I’m going to guess that didn’t go over too well,” Cordelia said once Maribelle was right there with her. “Do you need to talk about it with someone, Mari? I’m all ears if you do.”

“No, I’ll go up and talk to Lissa about it,” she replied, wiping a couple tears from the corners of her eyes. “She’s probably worried sick about where I am right now, I didn’t bother explaining that I was on ‘searching for my deadbeat ex’ duty.”

Cordelia mouthed the emphasized words to herself, before shaking her head. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, all he’s done is talk about you like you’re still married, where did this all come from? He told Donnel and myself that he was willing to drive out to our home for the job because he needed the money for you, and since I know you matter so much to him I was more than happy to give him work.”

“It’s a new development, nothing he saw coming even though it’s his fault.” Rolling her eyes once she was certain she’d gotten all the tears out of them, Maribelle looked directly at Cordelia and made sure that she got something clear as day between the two of them: “If he asks for me to see him, tell him I have no interest in doing so. I’m focusing on someone who matters here today, and that isn’t him. He’ll understand soon enough that I don’t take him cutting me out of his life lightly.”

“I’ll just try to avoid talking about you with him, easy as that! I’ve got your back, no need to worry, now go back to seeing Meli and tell her that she needs to stop being a stranger if she’s around here.” Cordelia had already distracted herself with something that was on her side of the counter, and Maribelle took that as her cue to get on with her day, but as she was standing there waiting for the elevator door to open, she heard a distinct laugh come from the person she’d just been speaking with. “I’m never going to get over the fact that he broke his leg falling off a ladder on the unluckiest day of the year. Add in…whatever that was, and it’s obvious that Friday the thirteenth is just not his day at all.”

It hadn’t once crossed Maribelle’s mind that it was an unlucky day before she’d heard Cordelia say something about it, and rather than think about her _own_ luck on her way back to the floor with the birthing suites, all she could think about was the luck of her friend they were all there with. Luck wasn’t real, she stood firmly by this fact, but if anyone was going to end up being an embodiment of bad luck, a child born on that day would be a top contender.

But maybe it was a sign of good luck that he ended up being born minutes after midnight?


	12. The Dream Catcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey all! this chapter and the following one are nearly 50k words between them, please take all scene breaks seriously and use them to your advantage to make your writing experience the best it can be!!

Seven years ago to the day had been when they’d signed the documentation for their marriage, making it legal despite the wedding being weeks later. It wasn’t something that he usually thought about, because as far as he was concerned their anniversary was always on their wedding day, but given what he was in the process of doing it was fair that the importance of the date was weighing on Vaike’s mind. It was an outcome he hadn’t been expecting to face, but the past several months had been nothing short of a struggle and he felt like he had no other choice but to give into what Maribelle had put firmly on his shoulders, wanting him to make the moves rather than her.

Saying he hadn’t tried to come to a different ending would have been a lie, because the moment he was able to do things relatively well on his own (the healing time for the nasty break he’d sustained in his leg was a burden in itself, on top of the marital issues), he was on the move to try and get her back into his life. He’d shown up at the last place he knew she was living, in the middle of the day, a couple weeks before, knowing that she’d be at work and that she’d have to come back at some point and face him there. What he’d expected was to have Lissa there waiting for him, they could talk about Maribelle and how stupid she was in the whole situation, and when she walked in they could all sort everything out. Instead, what he got was Frederick being home, completely alone, and no sort of discussion happening between them that was anything like he’d been hoping for.

“It’s been quite a while since we last got to sit down and have a chat,” Frederick said once they were both in the dining room, where the table was covered with stacks of books and a miniature file cabinet placed in one of the chairs. “Pardon the mess, my office is being renovated and rather than work somewhere else in the building I’ve simply brought everything home to do it here, it isn’t like Lissa and Owain are going to be around to distract me from what I’m doing.”

“They’re not gonna be here? Where are they then?” Curious as to how Frederick could be so certain that his wife and son wouldn’t be around, Vaike settled into one of the chairs across the table from him, using the chair next to it to prop up his splinted leg. “Ya can’t just say somethin’ like that t’me and not explain it, I haven’t seen Lissa in a long while and from what Chrom told me last time I saw him—”

“In case you’re worried, they’re visiting with Panne today, Owain enjoys being around Yarne and Lissa and I both think that him spending time with someone so much younger than himself will be good practice for later this year.” Clearing his throat as he shuffled a couple of his papers around, Frederick looked at Vaike, who was staring blankly at him in return. “That is what Chrom told you about, I assume? That later this year we’ll be adding a second child into our family?”

“I mean, it is what he told me about, and congrats ‘bout that, but I didn’t know that they were lettin’ other kids get t’play with their little one now. Last I heard, they were turnin’ people away because they didn’t want him gettin' sick from kiddo germs.” Vaike was relatively familiar with spending time with Yarne himself, having had Lon’qu being someone willing to help him out when he wasn’t extremely mobile, and when that resulted in him sleeping over at their house for a few nights at a time he had gotten his chance with the little boy. In fact, it had been him getting to hang out with Yarne that had been why he’d brought up the idea to parents that he knew, who also knew Lon’qu; he’d never heard of anyone getting to take their child over there until right then. “But that’s cool, guess I shoulda seen it comin’ that Lissa’d be able t’wiggle Owain’s way into their hearts.”

Frederick chuckled at Vaike’s particular wording, but fell back into his work before he could really say much more on the matter. It seemed as if he’d been right in the middle of something important when he’d had to get up to answer the door, and while Vaike was capable of sitting there and not being much of a distraction he wasn’t going to risk letting him distract him too much at all. Whenever he was done with his current stack of paper, he set it aside and looked at the man still sitting there staring at him, watching his every move intently. “Oh, I would’ve assumed you’d have something else to say that I could play off of, all you did was state something rather true.”

“I wasn’t aware ya needed me t’say anythin’, sorry I’ll try workin’ harder at that next time for ya.” That dining room was usually one of the most boring places Vaike could think of spending time, and this was no exception to that rule; even with someone actively in there he could barely keep himself from wanting to fall asleep. He needed to do something to combat that problem, and the only thing he could think of was to try and make small talk for himself. “So if Lissa’s not gonna be here tonight, does that mean that Mari ain’t gonna be either, ‘cause she’s kinda why I’m here right now.”

“What Mari does is entirely her own call, she’s been looking into finding somewhere to live on her own so she may be going out to do that, or she may join the gathering at the other house, in which case she may not be back tonight.” In giving that explanation, Frederick’s entire demeanor had changed, and he had gone from seeming serious to looking slightly saddened. “I know that what has happened between the two of you has been difficult for you to handle, but may I ask if you’re here to discuss proceedings with her?”

“What? No, I’m here t’try talkin’ her out of wantin’ t’leave me!” Now that he knew she was trying to find somewhere of her own to live, Vaike really wanted to get it through Maribelle’s head that they could make things work and that she could just come live with him, like the old days, but it seemed it wasn’t going to happen. “You’ve gotta help me with gettin' her t’realize how stupid she’s bein’ in all this, I can’t live my life without her and she can’t live hers without me!”

“I’d say she’s been doing a fair job living her life without you, but I see your point and understand you completely. Next time I see her I’ll pass along the offer of letting her live with you, but I’m afraid that she’ll turn you down. She’s a fiercely independent woman, she’s ready to move out on her own.” Glancing at one of the papers he had in front of him, Frederick shook his head. “At least, that’s what she likes to tell herself as well as us if we’re listening, but we know that she’s only leaving here to give us the space we need.”

“Kinda like why I moved outta Lon’qu and Panne’s place when I did, so that they had the room they needed for all that baby stuff. She’s just doin’ it t’the two ‘a ya, rather than the two ‘a them.” It was proof that they were similar in how they approached events involving their friends, and Vaike hoped that if that were pointed out to her, Maribelle would recognize it and take the hint that she needed to move back in with the man she was still married to, before she made a mistake.

No one ever came by the house for as long as Vaike was waiting there, and while he and Frederick did have a lovely conversation about children and how much work they were, he didn’t have anything to take away from what they’d said when he was on his way home. The only real news he had was that Maribelle still really enjoyed being around children, and that she was sad she wasn’t going to be living in a house with one anymore, but as there was nothing he could do about that he didn’t think it could be significant.

That led to him sitting at home on what was their legal anniversary, the entire house empty around him aside from himself, his belongings, and the paperwork he had laying in a stack on the table next to him. “I can’t believe it’s gonna have come t’this,” he said to himself, unable to even look at the top paper as he knew what it said and that it was the key to the end of everything. “She’s gonna sign off on this, she’s gonna get this house ‘cause it’s ours even though she’s never seen it, I get t’lose everythin’ I ever wanted in life just ‘cause she doesn’t understand that she screwed up first.”

In the days between the meeting with Frederick and where he was now, he’d been focusing on packing up everything he owned for when the inevitable happened, when Maribelle finally showed up at the door telling him to get out because the place was legally hers. That was part of the agreement they’d made before they’d gotten married, that if their marriage didn’t last at least ten years that they’d divide up their belongings according to who’d put more money into them, with the exception of the home, which would go to her regardless of anything. They’d gotten a lot closer to that ten-year mark than most people would’ve assumed they would, but it was still a brutal blow to know that they hadn’t technically made it the seven the papers said they did.

He knew what he was going to do with the papers, he was going to show up at the front door of that house even later in the evening than it currently was and pass them off to whoever answered, whether it was Maribelle, Lissa, or Frederick, because he knew that no matter whose hands they were passed to, they’d get filled out in the end. From there he would just wait until he heard everything was over, he supposed, and after that it would be back to trying to move out into another new place of his own, this time somewhere that would be his and only his, and then he’d be on with the rest of his life.

A knock at the front door dragged him out of his thoughts, and he slowly got up off the chair, gently walking across the floor without putting too much weight on his un-braced leg (even though he was three and a half months out from the break, he was still in the healing process and shouldn’t have been standing without support). When he got to the door, the person on the other side was still knocking, almost impatiently, and he began to let his hopes rise that maybe someone told Maribelle this is where he was, that she was there to talk about things and he could rip those papers up without ever thinking about them again. With that in mind he worked to unlock the door and open it, a large smile appearing on his face in preparation for seeing his wife on the other side.

What he got instead was a scruffy-looking man who immediately struck fear and bad memories into his heart. “I knew I’d be able to find you if I tried hard enough,” Gaius said, giving the man who’d opened the door for him a thumbs-up. “Nice name, by the way. Classy and refined, yet definitely something I’d want to keep far away from everyone.”

“Aren’t you the guy from the jail?” Vaike had already ignored what was just said and was instead trying to place where he’d seen Gaius before, a question that Gaius nodded to in response. “What’re ya doin’ here? What’s so important that ya needed t’find me years and years after all that happened?”

“It’s kind of a long story, and I think I’d rather be inside to tell you it, just in case someone’s out here watching me. Mind inviting me in so I can’t get busted for trespassing?” Checking over his shoulders as he spoke, almost as if he was honestly fearful he was being stalked, Gaius found that Vaike had moved aside to let him in the wide open front door once he was looking back in that direction. “Thanks, pal. Nice place you’ve got here, if you don’t mind me saying it. Looks homey.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a nice place,” Vaike muttered, wanting to add that it wasn’t going to be his much longer but not wanting to drag Gaius into that mess. “Doesn’t explain why you’re here though, so get t’talkin’ or else I might just make ya leave.”

Looking around the packed-up and mostly empty main room of the house, Gaius noticed that there was a single comfortable chair in the room, as well as a couple metal folding ones, and he took a seat in one of those as Vaike slowly got himself back situated in his own chair. “I stand corrected, this place seems kind of…empty, don’t you think? Where’s that wife of yours, I bet she’d be all over decorating this place for you.”

“She’s not here, ain’t been here in a long time.” Thankful that those wandering eyes hadn’t seen the papers on the table, Vaike was starting to figure out why Gaius was there, and he wasn’t sure if he should call attention to it before it was brought up, or if he should just let it happen. “Besides, our old place wasn’t that decorated either, and I’ve been packin’ up this one for reasons, so there hasn’t been time or reason for decoratin’.”

“What a shame, I actually came by to speak with her. For an actual reason related to what she does, don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not here to steal your wife.” Gaius pat his hands down on his legs, drumming them a couple times as he continued looking around the mostly empty room. “Do you know when she’ll be back?”

“When she takes this house outta my hands, that’s when she’ll be here.” Not wanting to look at the man making him talk about this, Vaike instead focused on a spot closer to his feet, so he was facing the right direction but not making any kind of contact. “Why’d ya try findin’ me here when you’re lookin’ for Mari? Couldn’t ya just look up her office?”

Gaius gave a loud laugh, which dwindled into silence within seconds before he explained himself. “You see, it’s a lot easier to explain that I’m looking up the address of an old friend than it is to explain I’m looking up a children’s lawyer, when the person I need to make the case against monitors my every search. I was hoping I could walk in here, have your wife here when I got here, talk to her about getting this case taken care of, and then be on with my day, but if you’re telling me she’s not here I don’t know what to do.”

“I can give ya her work address, no worries. Just, uh, could ya stop referrin’ t’her the way you’ve been?” It hadn’t been until he’d heard Gaius said it multiple times that calling Maribelle his wife had started to bother Vaike, but he didn’t want to come out and explain why that was. “She’s got a name, go ahead and use it.”

“Go ahead and…okay, something’s up here and I feel like I’m intruding in the middle of it. Care telling me why you’re being so weird about me talking about her?” Immediately after his last word, Gaius hit himself on the forehead with one hand, running his fingers down his face until they were resting on his chin. “No, actually, before we get to that, can I just say that this is the first time that I’ve felt like I could genuinely talk to someone in a long time? You’re a friendly guy, don’t forget that. Now go ahead and tell me what’s up with you and your lover-girl, I know that you were all about her the first time we met.”

“Things are up, it ain’t anythin’ special,” Vaike answered, still not wanting to get into the details with a relative stranger. “Just that we aren’t exactly in a good place right now, but don’t worry I still can get ya in t’talkin’ with her.”

“Your hesitance is telling me that I should pry further, but you know what? I’m going to take what I’m being given from you, I’m not going to exhaust your kindness by being a nosy bitch.” A grin appearing on Gaius’ face, it was almost hard to resist cracking under the pressure he was putting on and explaining everything to him, but Vaike knew he needed to stay strong. If he was going to be sending this guy to Maribelle, he didn’t need him knowing exactly what was going on, because there was no guarantee he wouldn’t open his mouth about it once he was there. “Say, since I’m here, mind letting me stay a bit longer tonight? Don’t exactly have anywhere else to go, unless I want to get arrested again, but doing that would ruin all chances of me getting what I want out of this legal mess.”

Even though he knew letting Gaius stay there wasn’t going to do any wonders when it came to keeping his problems to himself, the truth was that Vaike was rather lonely at the house by himself all the time. “I think, if ya wanted, stayin’ for dinner or even overnight would be fine by me, just as long as you’re not plannin’ on robbin’ or murderin’ me when my back’s turned on ya.”

“I’d never squander such kindness that’s being given to me, that’d be horrible. Especially when I know how many law people you’ve got ins with, messing with you would be messing with the wrong guy.” They both looked at each other, before a wave of laughter overtook them both, what Gaius had just said ending up being more hilarious than intended. For the rest of the day, they kept each other company, chatting and getting to know each other better than they had in that short time they’d had together in the jail. They swapped stories about what was going on in their lives, both clearly dancing around some larger issue that had led to where they were—Vaike only mentioned that he and Maribelle weren’t exactly together at the moment, and all Gaius would say was that he was trying to get his child back from someone who didn’t deserve them.

By the time Vaike was hobbling off to bed and Gaius had been given a couple pillows and a blanket to sleep on the floor (which he actually suggested doing, even though Vaike had offered to do it instead as a gesture of kindness), they had gotten to know each other decently well. And when morning came and nothing had been stolen, nothing was broken, and there was still a sleeping criminal on the living room floor, Vaike felt a lot better about sending the man in the direction of the woman he’d loved for so long. In fact, the idea of having her get wrapped up in a case that he only knew vague details about but was partially his fault for getting her involved in made him want to hold off on giving those papers to her. He could wait until she was done doing something with him even tangentially involved before he dropped that on her.

The morning send-off was quick and easy, once Gaius was awake and had gotten cleaned up to look somewhat presentable for going to request legal representation. “I don’t think I can thank you enough for hooking me up with where she works,” he said in thanks as they stood just outside the front door of the house, the only vehicle in sight being the work truck that Vaike had barely been able to use in recent months. “I hope that whatever’s gone wrong between the two of you clears up, and quick, you deserve a lot better than being lonely and crippled here.”

“Thanks, but I don’t exactly see it gettin' fixed, we’ve gone our separate ways and that’s just how it is.” As fuzzy as their argument in the hospital room was, he could still distinctly remember the hatred and anger she’d thrown at him with her voice, and he knew that coming back from that was next to impossible. “As for you, hope what you’ve got goin’ on gets resolved without too much trouble, you deserve t’be happy just as much as the rest ‘a the world, so go get that happiness, yeah?”

“I’m planning on trying, of course.” Patting one of his pockets to make sure that something in particular was inside of it, Gaius started walking towards the road, a bit of a spring in his step. “Thank everything the closest bus stop’s not that far from here, I’d hate if I had to walk the whole way to the office building.” He stopped and turned around right as Vaike opened his mouth to suggest making an offer, shaking his head as if he knew what was coming. “It’d be too highly suspicious if you drove me over, so don’t even think about it. What if she happened to see you coming and refused me service because of it? I can ride the bus just fine, it’s not like I have anything worth mugging me for.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s a solid reason but what if someone did hurt ya on the ride? Ain’t like you’ve got a phone on ya t’call me with t’let me know what happened and why ya never made it t’visit Mari, and I’m not callin’ her to check.” That brought a different idea to Vaike’s mind, one that he didn’t get stopped from saying before he said it. “When you’re done with her, why don’t ya just come back here? I’m sure I’ve got an inflatable mattress in storage or somethin’, I could go find that or buy a new one and ya could just stay here with me while all this legal stuff shakes out.”

Chuckling to himself as he went back to walking away, the last words Vaike heard Gaius say in his direction were, “I’ll see how this all goes before I decide if I’m coming back here or going to the baby mama’s place to beg for mercy, but thanks for the offer!” As he went down the road, Vaike had the desire to chase him down and accompany him for at least the first part of his journey, but he knew he wouldn’t make it far enough fast enough to do anything, thanks to his leg. Instead, he had to settle for going back into the house and figuring out what he was going to do to pass the time until he heard anything about what had happened.

Seven years ago and one day ago he’d been madly in love and signing his life away to the girl of his dreams, and now he was sending some other man after her. Even though there was a valid reason for it and it wasn’t anything romantic at all, the timing couldn’t have been worse. At least he wasn’t going to formally end their union so close to the legal date they’d started it?

* * *

The bus ride put Gaius a couple blocks away from the office building he’d been directed towards, streets he was familiar with as there were several legal offices all nearby that he’d been to time and again for other reasons. This time was different from every other legal issue he’d ever had, and he knew in his heart that there was exactly one person who could solve the problem he was facing, he just had to get through to her and hope she’d be the one to take on his case.

Upon entering the part of the building specifically owned by that legal group, the receptionist at the desk took a look at Gaius and narrowed his eyes towards him. “I’m sorry, but we don’t handle petty crimes that are entirely adult-based,” he said, as Gaius came towards the counter ready to ask about where Maribelle was. “We’ve heard a thing or two about you from some of our neighbors, sir, your kind of crimes aren’t what we work to put to justice in here.”

“What a shame that I’m not here for my own crimes, I’m here for the crimes of someone else against my kid.” Pounding a hand down on the counter, startling the receptionist from reaching for the phone to call security, Gaius followed up what he’d said with his simple request, hoping that they could move past their initial misunderstanding without any further issues. “I’ve been referred here to see one Maribelle Themis, if you don’t mind me asking for her by name. She doesn’t know who I am or what I’m here for, but someone told me that if anyone’s going to solve my problem, it’s her.”

“Yes, of course, everyone who walks in here without an appointment is here to see Mari. Let me just…call her up to the front, hopefully she can get you right in.” As his hand was already on the phone it was much easier for the receptionist to dial Maribelle’s extension and call her up through that, rather than leave the desk and go down to her office himself. Once he’d placed the call he put the phone back on the receiver and shook his head. “Take a seat, she’ll be out once she’s done with her actual work. Don’t tell me you’re going to socialize with her like everyone else who walks in to see her.”

“The only socializing I plan on doing with her is about the case I need to make,” Gaius replied, feeling the open hostility the receptionist was shooting at him. “You can mind your own business and let me do what I need to do, you’re being a real judgmental guy without even asking me my name or how my day was.”

Something along the lines of “let me look you up and show you why I don’t care” was muttered in the seconds before the woman of the hour came into the room, looking around for whoever had called her up to the front and ending up with her eyes settling on Gaius. “I’m afraid I don’t know you, but I suppose you’re the one who’s here to speak with me?” she asked, as she walked towards him, hand outstretched and ready to make their introduction brief. “The name’s Maribelle, but as you asked for me by name I suppose you were expecting that. Mind coming back with me to my office so we can discuss whatever brings you in?”

After properly shaking her hand and introducing himself to her, glaring at the receptionist the entire time as he’d turned his computer screen to show row after row of online mugshots he’d acquired, Gaius followed Maribelle into the back area of the building, entering her office and feeling uncomfortable the moment he’d taken the seat she’d offered up to him. He knew that he was there for a serious reason, but in the time since he’d gotten to her office all he could think about was how this was the woman who’d hurt the man who’d been showing him such kindness since the previous night. But he couldn’t let her know about that part of everything, not until after she’d agreed to represent him and his child in the fight he was going to start. “This is a tidy place you’ve got here,” he remarked, looking around at the decorations she had in the office to try and clear his mind. “Whose kids are those you’re with there in those photos? Are they kiddos you’ve helped out?”

“Some of them are, most definitely.” Her answer wasn’t dismissive, but it wasn’t said with any indication that she cared about what he was saying. “But let’s not get sidetracked with all of that, hm? You’ve come in at a perfect, slow time in the day for me, let me do what I can to get you what you need. Let me just—” she started clicking something on her computer, which he assumed was going to be a form for making their meeting official,” –get some preliminary things pulled up before we get started. My receptionist warned me about you, I’ll have you know. Sent me some links about your criminal record and how he feels that someone like you is here only for personal gain.”

“That’s discrimination and I’m not going to hear a word of it.” Sticking his nose up at the idea that he’d be so conceited as to walk into a law office geared at cases involving children for his own legal woes, Gaius could only hope that Maribelle wasn’t going to fall for the lies the man up front was telling about him. “Seriously though, I’m here to see about what I can do to get custody of my little girl, so her abusive mother can’t keep hurting her.”

Nodding in understanding as she looked at whatever was on her screen, Maribelle gave a soft chuckle as she closed out of the window she’d opened. “While I would normally discourage any parent with such an extensive criminal record from attempting to have sole custody of a child, none of your crimes seem to be violent by any means. The worst you have is some robberies, but they were without weapon and that’s unusual to see.” Turning her attention from her computer to him, she laid her arms down on her desk and smiled in his direction. “I am all ears for whatever you have to say to me, now that I feel comfortable being part of this case on your behalf.”

“You weren’t going to do it if I had too much going against me?”

“There wouldn’t have been a point. You could scream abuse all day and night and if there was enough reason to see you as a violent and harmful person, the most the courts would do is put your child in foster care and prevent either parent from seeing her.” Maribelle’s lips flattened into a straight line as she stared him down, making him feel anxious under her gaze. “You’re not just making claims though, are you?”

“I wouldn’t dare lie about this, I know what kind of treatment that abusers get when they’re locked up and I wouldn’t want to subject the mother of my child to that unless she really deserved it. Which, uh, she does.” It was at that moment that Gaius wished he could show some sort of pictures to go along with the point he was making, but he had no way to do so that wouldn’t be traced to where he was. “My daughter’s being emotionally and physically ran through the wringer by that woman and she needs to get out.”

Maribelle cracked her mouth open to say something but thought better of it and shook her head, beckoning for him to continue talking. “My little girl, her name’s Noire, she’s an absolute sweetie and she’s the best child a dad like me could ask for, she’s been in her mother’s custody since she was born because…well, I always thought it was because I’m a criminal who ends up in jail once a month but it turns out that her mother has her for the express purpose of beating her whenever she gets angry. For poisoning her whenever she acts like a normal kid. For controlling her just because she can.”

“And have you brought this up with the police?” Maribelle asked, almost predicting what the answer was going to be. “They could arrest the mother and have gotten one of us involved without you needing to come here.”

“Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? It’s just that every time I’ve tried, she’s decided she’s going to leave with Noire with her, which leaves me there when the cops get there. I’ve been arrested for the stupidest stuff because of making ‘false calls’, like the time I argued with the cop for ten minutes because he was going to leave without waiting for them to get back! And of _course_ once I’m getting loaded into the patrol car, that’s when that bitch comes home, but by then the cops don’t care!” Taking in a deep breath to calm himself down from the anger he’d instilled in himself, Gaius looked at Maribelle and forced a smile on his face to unnerve her. “So there’s why she hasn’t been arrested yet, anything else you want to know?”

“There’s a lot more I need to know before I can do anything, even though you just making these claims is reason enough to do some investigating.” Tilting her head to the side so the lone set of curls she had loose from the rest of her hair came tumbling off her shoulder, Maribelle’s flat-lipped facial expression remained the same. “This is quite interesting though, so please, tell me all you can about this woman and your daughter.”

It was like asking him to talk about the first crime he’d willing committed—Gaius was eager and ready to throw down everything he could about the woman he’d been serious with just long enough to have a child with her, only for everything to fall apart not long after she’d been born. He managed to refrain from too much name-calling and making outlandish claims, and when he talked about specific bruises and bumps he’d seen on his daughter he could get detailed enough to make them sound completely real. With every additional claim Maribelle’s eyes were widening, her heart hurting at the idea that a young girl was having to go through such pain without any intervention, and he was gaining hope that this would be enough to get her out of that place. “She’s going to be six later this year, which it makes me sick to think that she’s been living this life for nearly six years,” he admitted, the honesty of how he felt making him almost start to cry there in front of Maribelle. “I just want her under my care, I’m going to be a better man if it means getting to care for my daughter so that Tharja can’t hurt her any longer.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll do exactly what I can to make sure that you can get her in your arms, and possibly get that woman behind bars, if your descriptions of what she’s done to poor little Noire aren’t exaggerated. You’ll just have to…” Leaning back in her seat and looking at her computer screen, one of Maribelle’s eyes gave a bit of a twitch and she glanced to Gaius once more. “Ahem, that’s an interesting tidbit of information I just received about you, sir.”

“Someone’s sending you things about me?” Confused, as the only person he could think of that would be doing something of the sort would be the same woman he was there to bring justice to, Gaius saw the anger rising in Maribelle’s face and braced himself for what was to come. “Can I know who it is?”

“Oh, who’s sending things doesn’t matter, what does matter is that you once attempted to get my father killed for something that neither you nor he did?” Based on how the pitch of her voice was steadily getting higher, it was obvious that Maribelle was not pleased at all about what she’d just learned, even though Gaius knew that the information she’d quoted was easily-accessible on specific pages online. “I knew your name sounded familiar when you told me it, but I had no idea that it was because I’d had to testify that you didn’t do anything wrong after his name was cleared!”

“Whoa there, are you going to deny me your assistance because of something that happened when I was a young, dumb teenager?” Looking offended at the idea that she was going to use a personal matter between the two of them as a reason to reject his call for help, Gaius put on his bravest face and simply stared at Maribelle. “Listen here, I only cared about coming to ask you for help because I knew that I’d be able to rely on you after you saved my life back then, now can’t you please save my daughter’s life now?”

Her eyes closing tightly, Maribelle seemed to be debating with herself about what to do, but she was a smart woman and she knew that telling a client she wasn’t going to help him when he had serious evidence that abuse was happening was morally wrong. “I’ll get in contact with proper authorities and do a check of the home, after you give me the address and last known location of this woman and child. From there, and this could take a week or so to get fully investigated, we’ll proceed however we can.” As she reopened her eyes, she could see the relief that existed in Gaius’ face. “But this does mean I need a phone number and address for you as well, to contact you at.”

“Can we just do the address thing? I can’t give you my number, I already told you she tracks my phone and if she saw your number calling me she’d know what was up.” Before Maribelle could ask the immediate follow-up question to that, about how he’d give an address without her being there to check the mail at it, he had come up with an idea and held up one of his hands, tiny numbers and words written in his palm. “I’ve got an address for you, it’s where I’m currently staying because I just can’t handle being near Tharja anymore, not when she’s abusing my daughter right there in front of me and I can’t stop her without getting arrested for assault.”

“That’s fair, as long as you can receive mail there that’s all that matters. We can send you any requests for meetings as well as court dates through the mail, which is a bit slower but would keep her from knowing your location.” As he gave her all of the information she had requested, something felt off about how he delivered one of the addresses, and it wasn’t the one that she was going to have to do a welfare check at. “Sorry to ask this, but why are you trying not to laugh as you tell me where you’re staying? Is it that nice to know you aren’t with someone you’re accusing of child abuse?”

“I’m trying not to laugh?” Gaius was entirely aware that was what was happening, and he couldn’t help it, knowing that he’d just given Maribelle the address of her supposedly-estranged husband and she hadn’t even flinched. “How weird, I was just telling you where me and this neat dude I met in jail one time are living together. He’s a real sweetheart, I bet you’d like him if you knew him.”

“Er, thanks for that, but I’m technically still married to someone right now.” Freezing for a moment as she looked at her hands and saw that neither of them had any sort of a ring on them, she awkwardly laughed. “Not like you could tell just looking at me, I suppose, so perhaps your gesture of trying to hook me up with your roommate makes a bit of sense.”

Struggling even harder to not burst into body-shaking laughing, Gaius had to keep himself from losing control by standing up and pacing around a few steps. “Trust me, I hadn’t even noticed that you weren’t wearing a ring, I just had a feeling that you weren’t exactly attached to anyone at the moment.”

“Uh huh, if that’s the case then what’s so funny, if you don’t mind me asking?” Her voice going serious as she finished typing up something on her computer, Maribelle waited until Gaius was sitting back down and hadn’t said a word in response to her to start growing suspicious about what he was doing. Of course, because she had no idea what was really happening she’d jumped to a completely incorrect conclusion without thinking twice about it. “Did you just give me the address of a drug den or something? Do I need to call the cops on you to get you out of here?”

“Slow your roll, will you? I’m only laughing because you’re so clearly in need of having a man to snuggle at night, you’re so uptight and stressed about nothing at all. It’d do you a lot of good to come meet my roommate, it really would.” In Gaius’ mind, he saw this ending one of two ways: one, Maribelle fell for his trick and ended up at the front door, coming face-to-face with the man who definitely still loved her, or two, she made good on her threat and he was escorted out by the cops, his dreams of getting custody of his daughter forever ruined. “Just say you’ll consider it, I’ll—”

“Not another word.” Whatever she’d been typing up had pulled up a result she hadn’t been expecting, and she went from looking at her screen to Gaius and back several times before she loudly groaned. “I’m beginning to doubt the validity of your story again, I’m not getting anything about there being a woman by the name you gave me.”

“—oh, is that all? Might be because she’s not from Ylisse and probably isn’t in a single legal record you can access.” While they had been moved on from their conversation by technology, Gaius was thankful that she hadn’t, for instance, looked up the address he’d given her and found a resident’s name attached to it. “If you can, look in the databases from Plegia, that’s where she’s from, after all.”

“What is it with people specifically wanting to work with me and being from out of the area? I had a long, drawn-out case I was dealing with that involved a couple people who most of their records were located in Valmese databases, pulling from those was a headache that only made their nasty case that much worse.” Shuddering as she spoke, Maribelle heeded his word and placed a request to gain information from the neighboring country’s database, so that she could know the actual legal background of the woman they were going to be investigating. “I wish that everyone who causes trouble in Ylisse would be from Ylisse, you know? It would make my job a lot easier.”

“Because everyone who wants to be an asshole has the lawyers who are going to take them to court in mind when they do their deeds, totally.” Although he was speaking with sarcasm in his voice, Gaius realized that it may not have been apparent that he had done that, but he didn’t want to sound like he was making excuses to Maribelle if he explained himself. Based on how she didn’t reply and went to solely focusing on her computer, he couldn’t tell how she’d taken it and wasn’t in any position to ask her if she was angry or not.

What he did notice was the clock in her office, and how it had somehow gotten to be a bit later than he’d figured he’d be there. If he waited too much longer, he’d miss the bus back and would have to hang around for another hour to catch the next one, as it wasn’t a super busy route. But interrupting her search to tell her that he needed to leave was going to end just as badly as asking her if she was angry would, and he couldn’t just walk out and call it a day on his own terms. He needed to get clearance from her that it was good to go, and she seemed to be getting more engrossed in what she was doing on her computer by the second.

Ultimately it meant that he had to stay there until she deemed it acceptable for him to leave, and that came a matter of minutes later. “Okay, they haven’t sent me her records yet but my request is in and will be filled first thing in the morning,” she announced, closing out of everything she’d opened up in regards to the new case. “I’ll have to check those out to know how to approach her, but the welfare check will be happening as soon as possible and hopefully we’ll be able to get your little girl away from this woman on a permanent basis within a couple weeks.”

“If you’re going to let her stay there that long it’s fully possible Tharja will kill her or something to get back at me for trying to do this,” he said, knowing that it wasn’t much of a possibility for that to happen because the authorities would pull the girl out of the house long before that would happen. “I’m going to have to ask you to get her to safety and into my care as fast as possible.”

“That is ‘as fast as possible’, there’s still going to be custody hearings and arrangements and all that to sort out before we can give her to you, and that’s just how it is. You have yourself a nice night, sir, and I’ll be in touch with you via mail as soon as there’s something to be said.” Maribelle’s smile was genuine, even though she looked to be a bit annoyed by something, but there wasn’t any time for Gaius to ask about what was bothering her. He’d glanced at the clock again and had exactly two minutes to make it to the bus station to catch his bus, otherwise he’d be hanging around for an hour with nothing to do.

He left the office after a simple thank you, not even feeling like he had the time to remind her that he had a roommate that would be interested in getting to know her, and even though the receptionist tried stopping him on his way out he could not be stopped. There were places he needed to go, people he needed to see, buses he needed to catch…or, more accurately, buses he was going to miss by seconds, the driver not caring that someone was running as fast as they could to get on-board. “Well, this sucks,” he said as he sat down on the lonely bench at the stop, the sign on the pole denoting it as a stop stating that the route was only serviced once an hour. “I guess I’ve got time to think about what just happened in there, think about my Noire, things like that.”

The idea of being able to get his daughter into his life permanently was enough to pass the time before the next bus showed up, and after one uneventful ride across town he was let off at one of the last stops on the route. From there it was a short-ish walk before he was walking up to the front door of the house he was currently calling home, but with no vehicles in sight he was worried that he’d be locked outside for a little while. The front door was locked, but he was a criminal by nature, he knew how to get into homes when no one was present; normally, though, it wasn’t as easy as climbing through an open, unscreened window around the back of the house, yet that was exactly how he managed to get in.

Even though he’d only been gone a matter of hours, the place looked a lot different than it had when he’d originally left. There was a second actual chair in the living room, a bit dusty from the looks of it but definitely usable, and on the floor in front of both chairs was a deflated air mattress, with a pump and a set of sheets sitting on top of it. It was while Gaius was looking at those items with a surprised face and a warmed heart that he caught a glimpse of a stack of paperwork on the table in the room. That drew his attention away from what had been set out to make him feel more at home, and even though he knew he shouldn’t be snooping, he was curious about what kind of papers the guy he was staying with needed.

The fact that they were divorce papers caught him off-guard for a second, until he remembered how they’d both been acting when referring to the other. “That makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it. Her not wearing her ring? Him saying things aren’t going to get fixed? Totally understand now.” Flicking the top paper, Gaius wanted to see what else was in the stack but respected the privacy of the homeowner just enough to keep himself out of the mess. Now that he knew they were not on good terms at all he did regret giving her the address, but he knew that miracles were possible and maybe she’d never learn that the man she was soon not going to be married to lived there.

With a need to distract himself from looking around for more juicy details about crumbling relationships, Gaius started making the bed on the floor look more like an actual bed, inflating it and putting the sheets on it to give it a nice, homely appearance. He was considering going to search for pillows when the front door was unlocked and opened, Vaike coming inside with several bags wrapped around one arm, a large screen tucked under the other. “Looks like ya saw how t’get in,” he jokingly said as he came inside, kicking the door closed behind him. “Fixin’ that screen has been on my to-do list since I got this place, guess not havin’ it worked out today though.”

“You mean you were expecting me to try breaking in?”

“I figured you’d go t’check t’see if there’s a back door t’use and find that there’s a perfectly good window to climb through with little effort, so yeah, suppose so.” Already on his way to the back of the house, Vaike stopped walking and turned to look at Gaius when he realized what he’d just said. “Not sayin’ that you’re always gonna be a criminal just ‘cause you’ve been one before, but I got your line of thinkin’ down, didn’t I?”

Impressed that he’d been predicted so well, Gaius couldn’t help but give a smug laugh. “Sure did, that’s cool for barely knowing me and trusting me enough to not rob the place while you were gone.”

“The window opens from the outside right now anyway, it didn’t matter if I had it opened or closed, there was no stopping ya if ya wanted t’get inside.” Setting the bags he was carrying down on the floor, Vaike resumed his walk towards the back window, screen still under his arm. “You’re more than welcome t’go lookin’ through everythin’ I got, most of it’s for ya since I didn’t have much here for someone else.”

“Thanks, gotta say I appreciate the care you’re putting into this for me.” What was in the bags was enticing for Gaius, but he didn’t want to lose out on socialization time when it was right there in front of him. He couldn’t make it obvious that he’d read anything he wasn’t supposed to, but he could stealthily drop what he’d done at his meeting at the law office. “Say, Vaike, why are you here by yourself? That wife of your seemed pretty lonely there when I saw her, and I bet it’d do her a bunch of good if she had you wrapped around her all the time. Destressing and all that.”

If he was bothered by what he’d just heard, Vaike didn’t show it, as evidenced by his focus on getting that screen into the window so that it wasn’t a back entrance to the house anymore. “Thanks for lettin’ me know how she’s doin’, but it’s just not gonna work out between us at this point. She’s doin’ her own thing and doesn’t seem t’want anythin’ to do with me and mine, so we’re just gonna let it be.”

“That’s fine, I didn’t tell her to call you or anything like that, so there’s nothing to worry about there.” Gaius was going to not mention the address thing, even though he knew based on reaction that Maribelle hadn’t had a clue that she’d been given the address belonging to someone dear to her heart. “I just went in, stated my case, nearly got arrested a few times, and now I think my daughter’ll be coming home to me once everything’s sorted out, my criminal record be damned. I can be a good dad to her, I know I can.”

“I’d say ya could raise her here under my roof but honestly I don’t know how much longer this’ll be my place t’be sharin’ with others.” In the process of taking the window out of its frame for some reason, most likely something that only someone with years of home remodel work had noticed, Vaike couldn’t turn to look at Gaius to see how he was reacting to their conversation, but he didn’t seem to mind going into everything blind. “I suppose that we could go out lookin’ for somewhere for us t’live once everythin’ ‘bout here falls through, I’d be happy t’keep bein’ your living partner if ya feel ya need it.”

“We’ve been roommates for one day and we’re already making future plans, I love it.” Said with a laugh, Gaius decided that maybe he could look through those bags after all, expecting them to be little housekeeping things like soaps and food. He wasn’t surprised to see any of that at all, but he was taken aback to see that there were clothes in one of the bags, things that looked to be roughly his size. It was true that he currently only had exactly what was on his back, but he hadn’t been expecting Vaike to buy him anything to make up for that problem. “Dude, what the hell? You went shopping for me, like actual shopping? Clothes and fancy stuff like that?”

“I wasn’t the one who bought those, don’t worry. And they weren’t even bought for ya, they just kinda ended up bein’ the wrong size for who did buy ‘em and I figured that they’d fit ya better than anyone else I know.” A pause, as Vaike mentally went through every man he knew who’d be interested in the clothes in the bag. “Well, I think Lon’qu might’ve liked ‘em, but he was the one tellin’ me t’give ya a real chance at a good life here.”

Looking up from the bag, Gaius asked, “Lon’qu, huh?” but received nothing in return, which made him snort in amusement. “For being a guy directly responsible for a lot of my jailtime suffering, good to see that he can appreciate me as a person outside of that place.”

“He’s comin’ over at some point t’check on ya, make sure that you’re behavin’ and not bein’ a pain in my neck while you’re here,” Vaike did end up saying a couple minutes later, while he was hanging halfway out the window he was in the process of fixing. “Not that he thinks you’re gonna be one, that is, but he just wants t’check. Might be because he’s still being super dad-like and he thinks that we’re kids who need attention, or it might be because he just wants t’get outta his place for a little while.”

“I’d assume it’d be the second one, wouldn’t it?” The question was uninformed, and it became clear right there that Vaike needed to do some explaining of some personal situations to Gaius before anyone else got involved in his life. It was going to be a long conversation and doing it while there was a window completely taken apart might not have been the best idea, so he decided that he’d get to talking once everything was installed back in place. But as it tended to be, when he got his mind set on something there was something else that came up to disrupt it, and falling out of the window and busting the newly-installed screen out of the frame was what happened that time.

Thankfully he wasn’t hurt, just annoyed that he’d managed to destroy what he’d just been working on, and so after going back to the store to get another screen, the two men ended up replacing it together, one inside the house and one outside, to keep the incident from repeating itself. After that, they made a quick dinner and sat in the two chairs in the living room to talk about what needed discussing, hitting on several important points along the way. One was explaining Lon’qu and Panne’s personal lives and their entire situation surrounding them, another was why the air mattress was set up on the floor in front of them rather than in one of the bedrooms (that being because the bedrooms were filled with furniture and junk that smelled vaguely of fire and hadn’t been messed with since that house had gone up in flames), and the final one was about the precarious and unloving situation between a husband and wife who’d once been so loving.

Even though he hadn’t said a word about what he’d read, Gaius knew that Vaike figured he’d discovered those papers on the table and had browsed through them, but hearing him have to be up-front and honest about his impending divorce was a lot more distressing than he’d thought it could be. He didn’t want to meddle in things and make them worse than they already were, especially since he was still relatively uninformed as to what was going on, even with the quick motion of getting caught up. There didn’t seem to be much that could be done to help this guy out, and trying to convince his wife to remain his wife wasn’t going to be an appropriate thing to do, given the nature of their relationship, so he was going to have to sit idly on the sideline and listen as everything fell out of place around him.

“Just havin’ ya around like this is makin’ everythin’ I’ve had t’go through since she left where we were stayin’ at the time hurt a little less,” Vaike admitted after he’d finished explaining everything he could, making Gaius smile at him. “Kinda wish you’d shown up at my front door months ago, maybe before I fell off that ladder. Who knows, maybe you’d have stopped that from ever happenin’, you’ve got a good luck feel t’ya now that I’ve really gotten t’know ya a bit better.”

“That’s good to hear, I think,” Gaius said, not sure what he was supposed to say right then, but as the night came to an end and he was left there in the living room alone, laying on the air mattress with no clue what the next day was going to bring, he couldn’t help but smile at how he had walked right into easily the best place he could be at that moment. Of course, now that he was accepting that there really wasn't much he could do aside from revel in kindness and wait for any news about the pending case, he decided to make the best of his new situation. And when that meant walking back from the bus stop a few days later (after going to the store to get some things he and Vaike had realized they needed) to see a different vehicle than usual sitting outside, he couldn't be too quick to judge what was going on. For all he knew, that was just Vaike’s new ride, even though it looked to be relatively used and seemed to be indicating that someone else was there to visit.

He was immediately greeted with the presence of someone he knew fairly well in passing but not at all in actuality. “Hey, someone break the law in here?” he asked after stepping inside and closing the door, turning fully around as dramatically as he could to look at the men in the chairs with a large, forced smile, targeting in specific the one that should have been there. “Wasn't me, I've been working hard on breaking those habits for myself, so it's got to have been you, dude.”

“Ha, very funny. Take a seat, sorry that you’re gonna haveta use one ‘a the foldin’ chairs, but at least make an attempt t’join us, yeah?” Waving towards where all of the metal chairs were stacked against the wall, as they’d been the entire time, Vaike waited until Gaius had opened one and was sitting in it before he went back to looking at his guest, not too bothered by their interruption. “I did tell him you’d be comin’ by t’check on him, I just didn’t know when that’d be so he didn’t know he needed t’be here the whole time today.”

“It’s fine, I’m doing it as a favor to him and to the city,” Lon’qu replied, his eyes having followed Gaius from the moment he walked inside to the current moment, watching him sitting there listening to what was being said. “I don’t want to see him coming in and out of the jail, everyone who works there knows he’s a good man underneath his foolish ways.”

Beaming as if that was genuine praise, Gaius pretended to flip his hair in a display of how proud he was to hear what had been said about him. “I always knew you people there were softer on me than the rest of the crooks and bad guys. A dude gets sent there enough that everyone knows his name and story without having to ask, you’re definitely going to take notice of him.”

“Yes, and I stand by what I said about none of us wanting to see you come back again, except maybe to visit. You have to have things out on this side of the prison to live for.” Shifting how he was sitting, and glancing towards Vaike for a second as he mentally made sure he had everything he needed to keep going, Lon’qu then faced Gaius with a neutral expression and folded hands. “That’s what I’ve been being told here today, anyway, that you’re working on getting your daughter back into your life. A noble endeavor, and I wish you the best in it, but if you have Maribelle on your side you’ll be fine.”

Ignoring that Vaike didn’t seem fully comfortable hearing her name dropped so casually, Gaius knew that in order to not seem rude he was going to have to properly continue with the conversation. “Yeah, honestly I’ve had going to her in mind for as long as I can remember, I’ve got some personal history with her family and I think it’s only fitting that I, you know, get my legal woes settled thanks to her saving my life.”

“As I understand it, she has quite the notable family, deep-rooted history in the area and whatnot. Whatever you did to get tangled up with them, I wonder if it’s more or less impressive than what someone else in the room has done.” It wasn’t a question that was meant to be answered, and Lon’qu did reach out a hand towards Vaike to let him know that he wasn’t meaning anything harmful by what he’d said, but seeing how distant he seemed to be making himself as they chatted Gaius knew that if they kept going there could be consequences he didn’t want to face. “Let’s move on, shall we? There’s something else I’m interested in asking you while I have you here, unrelated to anything we’ve just touched on.”

Gaius was thankful for the change in topic but he didn’t want to abandon what had just been said without giving an apology for making it happen, but before he could decide on how to apologize Vaike had stood up and walked out of the room, saying that he’d be back in a bit. “Er, sure that could’ve gone better, but I’m game for talking about whatever it is you need to ask me. Got nothing to hide, no reason to tell you no, all that nonsense.”

Whatever it was that they were going to be talking about, Vaike had been equal parts interested in hearing it and not wanting to be anywhere near them, and unfortunately he’d decided to act on the latter choice. It wasn’t that he was bothered by listening to them talk about Maribelle, but it did make him think about her and about how much he still deeply, truly loved her, despite everything she’d said and done since her initial decision to leave home. He’d give up everything he had if it meant getting to spend time with her one last time before they were completely done with each other, but it was so unrealistic and impossible that he couldn’t afford to think about it.

Stepping into his bedroom to give himself some space, the first thing he noticed (like always) was the framed picture on the wall from their wedding day, them looking incredibly happy and in love like they’d been for so long. That picture was humorous in hindsight, as Maribelle had said years later that she’d been super thankful she was being carried then because of slicing her foot open on a piece of broken mirror, even though the cut hadn’t been too bad. She’d always been so open to physical affection, but they’d both let the opportunities for it dwindle as the years had gone on, until they’d been sleeping apart and hadn’t really done anything romantic or lustful together in a long while. But now that they were apart, nothing was being done for either of them, so were they any better than they had been in those last months of being together?

He sighed, walking past the bed in the middle of the room to go to the closet, opening the sliding door to show that it was mostly empty. If she’d been around, it would’ve been filled to capacity and then some, but she had all her clothes and most of the other things she’d originally kept in the closet hadn’t been recovered after the fire. Opening that door had the effect of reminding him how much space she’d always taken up with how much junk she owned, but it was all junk that she seemed to appreciate. Closing his eyes, he could visualize her standing next to him, complaining about how she needed more space but could always just keep making what she currently had work until they could do something about it. That was followed by a scandalous suggestion, a whispered question about something she’d always kept in the bottom of the closet, in a container that she’d worked so hard to keep stocked…

Not grabbing that box and keeping it safe was one of the things he’d regretted most in the aftermath of the fire, losing all of those special pieces that he and Maribelle had made great use of over the years. Now that she was alone, she probably hadn’t replaced any of it, but he knew how empowered and attractive dressing up in skimpy clothes had made her, which meant that she was missing out on all that now. His eyes reopened and he groaned, realizing that he’d been standing there, thinking about all of the good times they’d had together in a more adult sense, with no real reason for it. “I’d do anythin’ t’get one more night with ya, Mari,” he said under his breath as he closed the closet and went to the bed, brushing his hand across the top of the blankets on it. “Even if it means never seein’ ya again after it, I’d do it without question.”

She’d always talked about how much she loved pastel colors, about how they brightened up a room whenever she saw them; the sheet set he’d picked out for his bed was a pale pink that she would enjoy if she ever got to see it, chosen for the specific reason of her liking it. The bed was much too soft for his tastes, but if she’d ever slept in it she would’ve talked endlessly about how comfortable she found it, and she’d enjoy burying herself in the fluffy pillows he couldn’t stand using. All of this had been done for her, so that she would be happy with their lives again, but it had been done in vain as she picked what path they were on. It was her fault they weren’t together, but he was the one going to lose everything—she’d be the one gaining exactly what had been bought for her, without a second thought about the man who’d purchased it.

It was right there, with his hand on the top of the bed, that he decided that when he delivered those papers directly to Maribelle, he’d give fixing everything one last chance, so that she knew this wasn’t the end he wanted for them. “You need to come out here and explain yourself,” he heard Lon’qu say from outside the bedroom door. “Gaius happened to refer to what you’re planning on doing and I…I want to caution you about moving forward.”

“Movin’ forward with what, exactly?” Expecting to hear about how he shouldn’t be so quick to end things, or about how he shouldn’t be the one to give the papers when Maribelle was the one being difficult, Vaike was caught by surprise when Lon’qu instead came into the room, arms crossed in front of him, with Gaius right behind him. “Hey now, what’re ya both doin’ in here? This ain’t becomin’ an interrogation, is it?”

“We don’t want you doing anything from here on out by yourself. You have friends, let us be at your side as you go through everything.” Although he seemed to be unamused by what was going on, it was refreshing to hear Lon’qu being supportive. “And if that means that you have to come back to living with us, we have an extra room for a reason. You can be our guest and we’ll keep you company.”

That was where Gaius looked a bit uncomfortable, as Vaike going to live with them meant that he was back on his own, but he moved past it in stride. “I’m sure there’s plenty of opportunities around here for a guy like me to get on his feet, especially if I’m caring for my daughter by then. You can live with them, I’ll keep in touch as much as I can while building a good life for myself and Noire.”

“No way, if I lose this place t’Mari over all this, I’ll just find somewhere else for myself, it ain’t that big of a deal. You and your daughter, you’d need a better place t’live than I would, anyway.” Looking at Gaius for a second, Vaike turned to Lon’qu with a plan in mind for a positive outcome for everyone involved. “Would ya let him and his girl live there with ya? I know that might be kinda weird, given that he’s a criminal and there’s a baby at your place, but I’m just thinkin’ that it’d work better that way.”

“That would have to be something I would need to take up with Panne, but…” Trailing off as his eyes fell towards the floor, Lon’qu shook his head at something he hadn’t said, something that Vaike wasn’t sure about. “I have hopes that all this planning is for the worst outcome. We need to not let this go on any longer.”

“Don’t ya think I’ve been tryin’ t’make that happen for months?”

“She’s at my house right now, Vaike. Blissfully unaware that I’m not there because I’m here.” His head lifting back up, Lon’qu seemed to have a new sense of determination in his eyes as he locked them with Vaike’s. “When I say you have us to be at your side during everything, I do naturally mean right now as well. What do you say, do you want to try to make a difference here?”

The temptation was real, as they stood in the bedroom specifically designed for the woman the last-ditch effort would be in regards to. But Vaike knew that betraying her trust in her friends would be more trouble than it was worth, and no matter how much he wanted to give it a shot he knew that he couldn’t do it. The way he shook his head spoke novels on how much he wanted to try and yet was resisting, but neither other man questioned his decision and instead suggested to go back to talking in the other room.

That decision lingered in his mind for weeks, as he hesitated on delivering those papers and making good on what he needed to do.

* * *

Her mind had been focused in a lot of places over a handful of days, but one thing was for certain: if anything was going to get Maribelle back in a place where she could work on her cases without an ounce of regret, spending time with her two favorite children would do the trick. She knew when that was possible, and she knew that if she timed everything correctly she could slide right into one of the times where both the boys were at the same place without needing to orchestrate anything out of the ordinary. The first good sign to what she was doing was when she got home from work to no one being there, a lovely note on the inside side of the door saying that Frederick had been called into work due to a slight emergency while Lissa was out like she usually was.

The second good sign, then, was Maribelle showing up outside that “usual” place Lissa went and seeing that she was clearly there. “My, my, this might be going perfectly for me,” she said to herself as she walked up to the front door of the house she was now at, giving a solid knock on the door and waiting to see who answered. While she stood there, she gave a quick glance to make sure that no one else was unexpectedly there, and she found that while someone else seemed to be gone, the fact that Lissa was still there meant that the other person she needed there was still around. After the door was opened, she wasn’t initially allowed to enter, as it was in fact Lissa who’d opened it and she was so surprised to see her housemate there that she didn’t know what to do. “Panne’s used to me showing up at odd times, I’m sure she’ll let me in no matter what.”

“Do you think I’m going to just let someone walk inside her house without her permission? Come on, Maribelle, I’ve got to be more responsible than that! You just wait right there for a few seconds, I’ll be right back!” The door was slammed closed before Maribelle had a chance to respond but she had not been lied to about how long she would be waiting, as Lissa re-opened it almost immediately. “There, was that so bad? She said you could come in as long as you aren’t trying to walk out with a kid this time.”

“The only reason I even attempted to leave with Yarne in my arms that time was because he was asleep and I couldn’t fathom waking him on my own,” she argued in her own defense, before realizing that the threat most likely wasn’t a genuine one if it was coming from Lissa’s parroting mouth. “Whatever though, let me inside so I can see my precious boys! I need some time getting to love on them, I’ve been having a disaster of a week with work and I don’t see it getting better anytime soon.”

As the door was fully opened so she could step inside, Maribelle could hear Owain’s little yet very loud voice asking something from somewhere in the house, with his sole response being a shush that told more than words could. “Funny you mention how Yarne was sleeping that time, because that’s what he’s doing now and my child keeps trying to wake him back up to get to shove toys in his face,” Lissa muttered, scratching at the back of her head as she thought about how bad of a situation that was. “Let me go get him away from Panne so she can do her motherly thing without him bothering her.”

“Well if he’s sleeping now, I suppose this means that we’ll both need to be here until he’s awake so I can be with him and Owain at the same time.” What Maribelle said was enough to get Lissa to stop moving towards where her son’s voice was still coming from, despite another round of shushing trying to silence him. She turned to face her friend, who didn’t quite get why what she’d just said was enough to override the importance of letting an infant sleep. “Did you not think that I’d still want what I wanted all along, even if it wasn’t going to happen right away?”

“No, I know you well enough to know you’re not leaving until you’ve gotten what you came here for, but…if I decide I want to leave I’m so leaving, regardless of if you’ve gotten your time with the boys or not. Owain _does_ need to get to see his father at least a little today, even if it’s super late.” Holding her fingers up to show that she did mean just a little bit, Lissa didn’t wait for Maribelle’s sputtered reaction before she was back on her way to stop her son from causing any more trouble than he already had.

Not wanting to be left out for much longer, Maribelle decided to follow her, catching up with her with ease because she wasn’t walking too terribly fast through the house. “Okay, I suppose I can understand your point after some consideration, but it isn’t every day that I’m here with both boys, you wouldn’t strip me of that when I do have it, would you?”

“It’s not a guaranteed right to have access to them both at once, besides you get to see Owain every night at the house so wouldn’t spending time with Yarne be more important to you?” Even though she’d been caught up with almost immediately, Lissa didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that Maribelle was now trying to sidle up to her, trying to walk step-in-step with her as they went down to one of the bedrooms in the house. As they walked, the sounds of the shushing and innocent chatter were only getting louder, as was an accompanying wail that made both of them jump the first time they heard it. “Oh gods, when I get Owain out of there Panne is going to have my head for him being there in the first place! Maribelle, what do we do? She’s going to be furious about this!”

“Calm down, she’ll be fine, she usually handles this stuff without too much complaint.” It was true that Panne was relatively chill when it came to what happened under her roof in regards to other people’s children bothering her own, but still Maribelle wasn’t positive that what she was saying was the absolute truth. “Besides, what’s the worst she’ll do, tell you to leave and not come back? She’ll change her mind on that within an hour.”

Whether she believed her or not, the moment of reckoning was upon them as they were standing outside the bedroom where the noises were all coming from. Lissa stepped inside first, Maribelle moving enough out of the way to make that possible before she followed her in; they were both immediately treated to the sight of Panne standing in the corner, holding a whining Yarne close to her chest as little Owain stood right in front of her, his hands reaching up towards her as he talked a mile a minute as loudly as possible. She looked to the two women who’d entered and glared daggers at Lissa while she tried to get her son’s attention turned to her, and it was only after he’d excitedly noticed that his mom had joined them that he finally shut up. “He refuses to listen to me telling him to quiet down,” Panne bluntly said, stating nothing but the obvious. “I have no idea how you’re going to manage to raise him and his loud mouth alongside another child at this rate.”

“He’ll learn how to handle himself around babies real quick, that’s why he keeps coming over here, eventually he’ll master the ‘inside voice’ thing whenever he sees someone smaller than him.” Having bent down to get her son to come towards her, Lissa wasn’t looking at Panne while she talked, so she wasn’t able to see the pointed eye-roll that Panne gave her with her explanation. Maribelle, however, did see it and was going to call attention to it (in an agreeing manner, she also wasn’t sure how her friend was going to do it), but she stopped herself after seeing how tired Panne looked once she’d gone back to a resting face. That wasn’t the face of a woman who wanted social interaction in that moment, but rather someone who just wanted a few minutes of quiet to get her child to sleep, and Maribelle did what any self-respecting woman would do in that situation—she lightly nudged Lissa’s leg to let her know something was going on.

Even with his mother looking him dead in the eyes and telling him he needed to be quieter around babies, Owain was still talking up a storm, albeit in a softer voice, and whatever he was saying had been just enough of a distraction that Lissa hadn’t even felt Maribelle’s tap. “I think we should maybe step out to give Panne some privacy,” Maribelle ended up saying, already backing out of the room without actually exchanging a single word with the woman whose best intentions she had in mind. “You can scold Owain somewhere else, we need to leave here right now.”

“What do you mean, right now? I’m in the middle of something, don’t you think we can wait?” Still oblivious to anything else going on around her, it wasn’t until Owain had started following Maribelle out that Lissa decided she could go as well, and as she was standing back up she saw the exact same sight that Maribelle had when she’d made her decision, answering all questions and making their retreat from the room that much swifter. Once they were back in the living room, Owain sitting quietly on a chair after his reminder of needing to use a soft voice when around babies, Lissa turned to her friend with an expression that made her look offended about something. “Why’d you not just say that Panne needed a moment to herself, I’d have totally given her that if you’d just said so.”

Maribelle shrugged, the thought process that she’d had there in the room not quite available for recollection. “I figured she’d tell me I was wrong if she heard me say anything more than I had, she’s really particular about how she’s treated and all that. You know, basic friendship things you should know about her, it’s been almost a year since you two became friends so you can’t play stupid about everything forever.”

“Excuse me, can you maybe not say I’m playing stupid somewhere my son can hear you? I don’t want him thinking he’s got a dumb mom, I’m just not always the best about everything and that’s okay.” Now looking really offended, and with reason, Lissa went to sit down next to her son, but when he refused to make room for her in his chair she scolded him for that before pushing him aside and forcing herself into the chair, him having to move up onto her lap to make things work.

“You don’t have to take your anger at me out on him,” Maribelle reminded her, walking around the room to try and avoid being too close to her friend. “I wasn’t trying to make you look bad in there, or out here, or anywhere. I’m just speaking the truth as I understand it, and if you can’t handle it you’re—”

“Maribelle, it’s nice as always to see you’ve invited yourself into my home, but perhaps next time you can do it without causing too much of a distraction to Lissa, so she doesn’t leave her son unattended?” The fact that Panne had come into the room without either of them realizing it meant that when she spoke, they were both surprised by it, but she sounded just as tired as she’d looked when they’d last seen her so her coming to join them made little sense. “Getting Yarne to sleep is much more difficult than you’d expect, especially when I have a little boy trying to ask me every question under the sky, no thanks to you and your inane ability of showing up when it’s least convenient.”

“—jeez, way to put me on blast, I didn’t know it was baby’s naptime when I thought to come over, you can’t blame me for everything.” Holding her hands up defensively, Maribelle hoped that her stating that she hadn’t meant to cause harm would be enough to get Panne to back off of grilling her, and it was. However, judging by how Panne was focusing only on her, almost as if Lissa and Owain weren’t present, she knew that she was about to get an earful about something else, and she needed to stop it before it started. “Please, if you’re going to tell me I did anything else wrong, can we at least do it when there aren’t small ears present for it? I don’t need whatever you’re going to say to me being repeated by certain young mouths.”

“I would never chew you out for anything unrelated in Owain’s presence, don’t you worry.” A small smile appeared on Panne’s lips, a sure sign that everything was going to be okay in the end, but just as it lulled Maribelle into a sense of security it was ripped out from underneath her with a highly focused question: “Now, as I understand it, you’ve been working on a rather important abuse case at your job, one that news relating to it keeps ending up here because Lon’qu knows someone involved in it. Is this true?”

“Ooh, work gossip time? Maybe since Panne’s here you’ll actually say something juicy that isn’t just complaining about specific parts of the legal system!” Adjusting how Owain was across her so that he wasn’t making her uncomfortable, Lissa sounded excited to hear whatever it was Maribelle was going to talk about.

But Maribelle didn’t quite know what she was going to say, because something felt strange about how the topic had been approached. It wasn’t usual that someone asked her about a specific case, unless it was a high-profile one that was all over the news, but what she was having to do with Gaius was only important in that it involved records from across borders as well as child endangerment. Neither of those things were supposed to be common knowledge, though, and the only people outside of her office and the officials she’d been in contact with in Plegia who knew those facts were Gaius himself and the officers she’d called to his house to check on the status of the child. The only way that anyone would even know that it was an abuse case was if they’d gotten that information from the source, but why for Naga’s sake would someone be in contact with Gaius over any of it? “Er, I suppose I am involved in a pretty important case, but it’s more important because of how many layers there are to it. A criminal fighting against the clearly-mentally abusive mother of his child? It’s not every day that you’re representing a bad man who’s in the right, but that’s what I’m doing on this one.”

“Interesting, very interesting. I heard from someone at the hospital that the girl’s been in and out of there many times recently with unexplained injuries that her mother insisted were from rough playing or falls, and you know if this has been happening while I was there I would have alerted you right away to the injuries.” No matter what it was that Panne was trying to accomplish by bringing this up, it was clear that she had some personal investment in the whole thing, especially given how sad she sounded as she talked. “I feel like this is a failure on my part, to not have moved someone diligently checking all patients for traits of abuse to my position in my absence. All of this could have been avoided, I’m sure.”

“Don’t say that, I’m pretty sure it would have ended uglier if we’d gotten the girl out of her mother’s care while her father was still in jail. He’s really insistent that he gets to get custody of her in the end, rather than her going into foster care or up for adoption.” Talking about that particular fact made Maribelle immediately feel bad, knowing that referring to those kinds of outcomes with Panne was never a good thing to do. “At least this way she’ll get to stay with one of her parents, right? That’s the best outcome, I’d say.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you, and if Lon’qu were here he would do the same.” Her fingers twitching as if she wanted to do something with them, Panne turned her focus away from Maribelle and onto Lissa, who was listening intently to what it was they were talking about. “What about you, hm? How do you feel about this case?”

“I don’t actually know enough about it to have an opinion, believe it or not,” Lissa said with a laugh, rooting herself in the situation as an observer. “You two just keep talking, I’ll be sitting here listening and trying to decide how I feel about it!”

Still not sure what she was supposed to be baited into talking about, but knowing that there must have been some key part to the case that she was supposed to mention, Maribelle thought carefully about what else she could say before deciding to play it safe. “Well, if you’re looking for me to give you any ammo to make a decision with, sadly there’s not much more I can talk about right now. Tomorrow’s the day that Gaius should get my mailed request to return to my office, so either tomorrow afternoon or the following day will be when he’s back to discuss things with me.”

“You’re mailing his information to him?” Panne asked, unsure if she’d heard what Maribelle had said correctly, and in response she was told the story of how he gave his address, then immediately attempted to hook Maribelle up with his roommate. “What an interesting situation, certainly you didn’t take him up on that offer though, not when you’re still legally married to someone.”

“What’s the worst that would’ve happened if she had? I think she totally should’ve at least given a chance to this roommate guy!” Lissa’s honest feelings towards what she’d just heard made Maribelle start stammering, trying to explain why she couldn’t ever bring herself to do such a thing, while Panne smiled to herself, looking between the two ladies with a sense of knowing that she couldn’t explain to either of them. Even when she was caught looking smug about something, it wasn’t called out, nor was it really acknowledged, with Lissa turning her sights on making Maribelle explain why she couldn’t bring herself to at least go out for coffee or something with the roommate.

That started their back-and-forth about what was socially acceptable when married yet separated from one’s spouse, an argument that only ended when Panne disappeared from the room without any indication as to why. Thinking that they’d upset her with their discussion, the two of them came to the agreement that what Maribelle had done by rejecting the offer was the most appropriate, but once she’d fully settled things with her husband then she should go back and take up the offer. But when Panne came back, she didn’t seem upset at all, and as her arms weren’t actively holding her child it wasn’t like she’d gone to get him after he’d woken up from his nap. Whatever she’d done there in her time away was going to remain a mystery unless someone asked, but neither Maribelle nor Lissa wanted to offend her by prying into her activities.

If they’d know that she’d disappeared to let Lon’qu know something she’d just witnessed with her own two eyes, so that he could use that information how he saw fit where he currently was, they might have allowed for the evening to take a much different course. Unaware of how she was pulling strings neither of them were meant to see until it all was stitched together, the night progressed exactly as Maribelle wanted it to, complete with more pointed questions about cases and ending with getting her wish of spending time with both of her little boys. As far as she was concerned, her life was going exactly how she wanted it to be in that very moment, even with all the craziness her job was putting her through. All it would take to shake things up, though, was one person passing a message along that shouldn’t have ever been shared.

She had far too many pairs of ears listening to her every word to keep that from happening, and there only needed to be one person running their mouth to make her so-called perfect life fall apart once more.

* * *

There was never going to be anything close to an easy court case, but even with how rapidly things were escalating in his case Gaius didn’t think that he’d be able to fight for the right to get his daughter under his care that summer, let alone that year. He figured it’d be a multi-year deal, that he’d finally get her once she was old enough to drive, or at least old enough to be considered a young woman. That was the magic of having been lucky enough to get Maribelle involved, he supposed, because she made sure that she got his case into the courts as fast as she could—a matter of weeks, in fact. It was something about the nature of what he was accusing someone of, and how there seemed to be a whole bunch of proof to back up his claims, and the fact that a child could become seriously injured or killed if they didn’t work quickly enough.

He wasn’t going to complain about the speed of getting it to in front of a judge, but there was something he noticed after several meetings with Maribelle: every time he came back to the house after going to see her, it was almost as if Vaike didn’t want to interact with him. He wasn’t angry and he definitely didn’t seem upset, but his mind was clearly in other places that weren’t there at the house where his physical body was. To try and keep that from happening, Gaius made it a point to not really talk too much about what he was doing while he was out, but even if he stayed quiet it wasn’t a secret that he was spending a lot of time going over to the law office to talk with Maribelle, especially not with how often she was sending messages through the mail.

What was he supposed to do about it all, though? If he left, he wouldn’t have a steady place to call home and that would jeopardize his chances of getting his daughter back. If he stopped going to the meetings, the case would be forced to end and Noire would most likely get pulled from her mother’s care and placed in someone else’s home on a permanent basis. There were other worst-case scenarios he was playing in his head, over and over, making him wonder if he was being selfish by fighting for what he believed in, even if it was hurting the person he was staying with.

But the truth was that it wasn’t the act of Gaius meeting with her that was hurting Vaike, but rather the possibility that he was going into her office and talking about him. Telling her what he was up to, letting her know about the papers he’d gotten, things along those lines that he wasn’t ready for her to hear about. If she was going to find out that he was still not working and was waiting for the perfect moment to drop the divorce papers on her front step, she’d come over to the house and get everything for herself, ridiculing him the whole time about how he’d managed to ruin his own life so many times over without her around. At least, that was what the negative version of her in his head was going to do, but it had been so long since he’d thought about her and their relationship in a positive way that he didn’t know what else would possibly happen.

He had to do something about everything that was going on, and he needed to do it before the weight of all the issues began to weigh too much more on him. Living his current life wasn’t fun, he was spending all day doing things around the house or chatting with his housemate about everything but personal issues, he’d occasionally go out to see friends but everyone had started to get so wrapped up in their lives that they felt they didn’t have the time to dedicate to him. That didn’t stop him from going over to people’s houses, spending hours playing catch-up with his friends while they tended to their chores or even their children—and it did mean that over the course of a few weeks he had a lot of quality time with a lot of different children.

Whereas Gaius was polite enough to not directly mention Maribelle in any of their conversations after a point, not everyone else was aware that they should tread lightly when it came to talking about her. Anyone could tell that just hearing her name was enough to make him quiet himself from whatever he’d been saying, closing in on himself as he thought about how the person he was talking to was so unaware of what had happened between them that they found it acceptable to bring her up. There were people that knew they weren’t on good terms, but they acted like it wasn’t anything to do with them and talked about her anyway; it came to the point that, even though he was holding a child on his lap when Maribelle was brought up, Vaike attempted to swing at someone for talking about her in a way he didn’t like to hear.

It was asking if she was still doing good things for people in the middle of nasty situations that they hadn’t asked for, and he’d immediately gotten upset about hearing Virion’s condescending voice asking the question that he didn’t care he was holding the child the whole fight had been over in the first place. What he did care about was that he was expected to know what his wife was up to, when she’d separated herself from him because of _their_ case in the first place. “Do you think this sort of behavior is acceptable in my own home?” Virion snapped once he realized he’d almost been punched for what he saw as an innocent question. “Why, if Catie were in the room I’d have her kick you out for treating me in such a manner, and with our daughter present as well!”

“Present? She’s more than present, I’m holdin’ her for ya,” Vaike replied, still having one arm wrapped around the little girl sitting in his lap, who was staring in her father’s direction with a smile on her face. “I bet she woulda loved seein’ ya get decked for what ya said, she seems like the kind ‘a girl t’appreciate that sort ‘a thing.”

“By all means, she would enjoy it, but that is simply because she enjoys watching anyone get hit! That does not give you anything close to permission to go ahead and hit me!” Huffing as he saw the light in Vaike’s eyes fade after he realized he wasn’t going to get to pretend to swing at him a second time (as he couldn’t actually hit him, not in his own home when he was romantically involved with a police officer who had arrested him before), Virion dramatically fell onto the closest chair he could find, pretending like he’d just fainted into the spot. “I’ll never understand how someone like you landed a wonderful woman such as Maribelle, but what I do understand is that you have some issues you need to work out with her, and quickly, if your reaction to hearing her name is to grow violent.”

“The violence thing ain’t ‘cause of you mentionin’ her, don’t worry, it’s ‘cause it’s you talkin’.” Now, if there was one thing Vaike had grown to love over time, it was having a joking and fun relationship with Virion, who was usually drinking and acting snooty whenever they were near each other. But this was a time that they were both completely sober and needing to be serious, and he was still playing up the jokes just because he could. After a few moments of silence between them, he cleared his throat and moved on, not wanting to talk about what was sitting there for him to address but knowing that it would be rude to ignore it. “I’m well aware of the issue we’ve got between us, I’m just…tryin’ to come up with a way t’fix it all without it endin’ badly.”

Virion sat up, loudly humming in thought. “Perhaps you could tell her all her positive traits and ignore all her bad ones, just for a moment? That’s a sure-fire way to get straight to her heart, she’ll admire your honesty and willingness to look past her flaws.”

“That only works if they’re not separated, idiot.” Poking her head into the room to see what the men were doing, Sully had to dodge a decorative pillow that was lobbed at her, laughing the whole time. “What I think Vaike here needs to do is step back and ask himself if she’s worth all this damn effort. She chose work over love, shouldn’t you decide to do the same and give up on her sorry ass?”

“I don’t know ‘bout that, if I was gonna give up on her I think I woulda done it already.” There was something to what Sully just said that was sticking in his mind, but he wasn’t sure which part it was and he didn’t want to hesitate and hold her up until he figured it out. “I’m tryin’ t’come up with some way t’make her mine again, but all I’ve got are bad ideas that I know she’s gonna turn down. After a woman yells at ya when you’re recoverin’ from gettin’ your leg fixed up, y’know that it’s gonna take more than a quick ‘I still love ya, come home’ to get her t’change her mind.”

“You’re right about that,” both of them said simultaneously, sharing a glance between them after they noticed what they’d done. It was Virion who continued to speak, while Sully came properly in the room to grab Kjelle before she somehow got thrown around like the pillow had been, even though the person who threw the pillow and the person holding her were not the same. “If you need any suggestions we are more than willing to help you, seeing as it was our mess, with my former assistant, that indirectly caused this issue.”

Under his breath, in the moment directly after Sully left earshot so that she couldn’t turn back around and retaliate against what he said, Vaike muttered, “Yeah, because what I need right now is whatever stupid idea you’ve been workin’ on for me. I need somethin’ that’ll actually work, not something bad.” Louder, so that everyone else could hear something that wasn’t just an angered whisper, he told them both, “I appreciate the fact that you’re wantin’ t’be here for me, but wouldn’t it’ve made sense for ya t’be there when ya were actively ruinin’ my marriage with your problems?”

“Hold on a second, we were there for you during all that!” Turning on her toes to face him even though she’d been trying to leave the room, Sully shook her head at what she’d ended up hearing. “I mean, you were the one who was kind of there for us, but who the hell cares about the specifics of all that? Fact is, we spent a lot of time together when everything was falling apart because of this little girl, and now you’re going to tell us we didn’t?”

“That ain’t what I said, and even still I was there helpin’ the two ‘a you out, neither ‘a ya were helpin’ me out ‘bout anythin’. But whatever, past’s in the past, we’ll get over it and I guess I could use your help if either ‘a ya have anythin’ t’give.” The whole time he was talking, Vaike knew that he should’ve been focusing on the people he was speaking to, but his attention was pulled solely to the youngest person in the room. Coming over and spending time with Kjelle was always fun, she wasn’t too much to handle and if she started to whine one of her parents would make sure she was taken care of, but it wasn’t until he was voicing the fact that he’d been so focused on their problems that no one had focused on his that he realized that she _was_ the problem they’d been caring so much about. She was the child that had indirectly caused a marriage to crumble, one person focusing too much on getting her where she belonged while the other was left to be wishful that she’d get there. She wasn’t even a year old, and she had the destruction of the relationship of two people she was completely unrelated to on her hands.

It was right there that it sank deep into the core of Vaike’s being that all of this, all of the problems and heartache he’d experienced in the past year, were because of a child so young, she still didn’t know how to walk. He and Maribelle were just being stupid about each other, about what they wanted and how they wanted to go about it, and once she realized what the root issue of everything was, she’d think it was stupid too.

He had to endure the rest of the conversation, with all of the bad ideas and suggestions two people who clearly didn’t know how to respectfully handle relationship issues could provide, before he could go home and properly plot out what he was going to do. The issue there was that, even after saying his goodbyes and whispering a “thank you so much” into the ear of a child who didn’t understand what he was saying, he wasn’t going to get an opportunity for a quiet moment to think about everything. Going home meant having to deal with Gaius being there, and that meant awkward conversation dodging the big issues in his life at the moment, provided that anything new had happened.

Coming home to find out that the case had been wrapped up rather quickly and that, as soon as she finished a health evaluation to make sure she wasn’t deeply injured, Noire would be coming to live with them was not what Vaike was prepared for. “That’s good news, right?” he asked after Gaius spelled it all out for him, sounding thrilled to have something to talk about. “She’s outta that bad place she was trapped in and is gonna get t’stay with ya from now on, ain’t that what ya wanted?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted, but it’s all happened so fast that I don’t even know how to react to any of it!” To say he was happy would be an understatement, as this was the most excited about anything Gaius had sounded in a very long time. “My little girl’s finally free of her mother, forever, and that’s all we could ever ask for. A sweetie like her doesn’t deserve that kind of punishment.”

“Ya better go and thank your lawyer for puttin’ on such a great case then,” Vaike told him, before catching what he’d just said and realizing that maybe he didn’t need a bunch of alone time to plan out what he was going to do. He could do it on the fly, without the person he was doing it with knowing what he was doing! “Say, why don’t ya go and do that tomorrow, since we both know she’s not in her office on weekends unless it’s real important that she be there for somethin’?”

“Since she wasn’t there yesterday I’m sure she will be there an extra day at some point, but you would know Maribelle better than anyone else, wouldn’t you?” Gaius’ eyes went wide as he tried to apologize for what he’d just said, but Vaike waved it off, saying that it didn’t bother him to hear it. “Okay, phew, thought maybe that’d be the last straw or something after all of this. Wouldn’t put it past my luck to get to this point just to lose it all.”

“No, don’t worry, didn’t ya just hear me givin’ ya advice about what t’do about her? If I was gonna get upset ‘bout her gettin' brought up, I wouldn’t have done that, don’t ya think?” The fact that Vaike was saying all this with a straight face, not really showing if he was being genuine in his meaning or not, made Gaius wary that he was going to wake up in the morning with a request to leave and never come back. All night that possibility took root in his mind, keeping him constantly guessing if he should try and atone for what he’d said or not, but he didn’t want to risk making anything worse.

There was nothing telling him to get out in the morning except his own mind, and he made sure to act on the suggestion he’d been given, sneaking out the front door without telling anyone where he was going. It was obvious that he was going to go see Maribelle, because that’s what he’d been told to do, but he knew that without telling Vaike where he was going, it was possible that he’d jump to strange conclusions. However, even with the way he was worrying about everything, Gaius just wasn’t able to correctly nail down what was actually happening there in the house.

If he’d bothered to pay any attention to anyone but himself there that morning, he would’ve heard the faint sound of music playing from the only usable bedroom in the house. The whole time he was thinking about telling Vaike where he was going, Vaike had been caught up in his own task, hoping that Gaius was going to do exactly what he ended up doing. He needed to know that Maribelle was going to be at work, he needed to know that she’d be busy with clients for at least a few hours, he needed everything to go perfectly if his last shot at fixing everything was going to have a chance.

Two days beforehand, the day she’d been out of her office, that had been because that was Owain’s birthday and she was spending time with him instead of working. That meant that the current day was their anniversary as everyone else knew it, and although he’d chickened out about doing anything on their legal anniversary he wasn’t going to throw away that second shot. To motivate him on what he was doing, he’d moved the paperwork there into the bedroom with him, and he wasn’t going to let himself leave until he’d figured out what to do that didn’t mean taking those papers to her front door and asking her to make their separation official.

When he did know what he was going to do, he didn’t bother checking the time to see how late it was, how close it would be to when Maribelle would be done with work. His spirits were high, his mind was set on what exactly he was to say and how he’d try and convince her to give up living separate from him and give their love another shot, and he wasn’t going to take rejection lightly but he had a backup plan if she still turned him down. But what he wanted to do required a few things he couldn’t handyman his way into there at the house, so even though he wasn’t aware of what time it was when he left he still had ways to kill time before the moment of no return.

In his eagerness to leave, he did forget to turn everything he’d been using off before he left, and so when Gaius came back to the house that afternoon, having spent a while talking to Maribelle before going into town and trying to prepare his life for having his daughter back in it, he was greeted with no one being there but the sounds of music he’d ignored before. “Huh, how about that, never took the guy to listen to this sort of crap,” he mused as he followed the sound of cheesy, romantic pop music down to the bedroom, pushing the door open to find it predictably empty. The computer in the room, which he’d never seen before but he figured that was what Vaike spent most of his free time messing with because he sure wasn’t working, was open to a playlist that seemed to be somewhere in the middle of its rotation, based on where the current song was on the screen.

It was rude to snoop through the belongings of the man who’d given him somewhere to live, but Gaius was insanely curious about what the playlist was for and why it was still going. He scrolled up to where the name of the playlist was and smiled to himself when he read it— _[To Mari, With Love](https://open.spotify.com/user/jsqunjl7gguz391oulcr7nbkh/playlist/18aUIcoCslFz8oMaSqRM54)_ , the title said, and suddenly the fact that it was romantically cheesy songs made perfect sense. “She told me today was your anniversary and that she wanted to talk to you more than anything today. Bet you’d be happy to know that, but you’re not here.” Being polite, he closed the window on the screen and the music stopped, but the silence in the room only made the fact that he didn’t know where the guy was feel worse. Calling him wasn’t an option as his phone was his home phone, and any messages he received would be through the computer there in the room, so Gaius had to hope that Vaike was out there making good choices for himself.

That choice, of course, was sitting down the street from where he knew his final destination was going to be. Maribelle’s car wasn’t outside, she must’ve still been at work and he had no idea when she’d be back; while he could have gone inside and made himself comfortable speaking with the people who were there, and maybe giving Owain a bit of a late round of birthday wishes, he didn’t want to ruin what he had in mind by getting too involved in some unrelated conversation. He needed Maribelle to not know that he was coming, so that she could be surprise and taken aback by his grand romantic gesture that was going to blow her away and make her his once more.

With every few minutes that passed he began to question more and more if what he was doing was worth it, or if he should have just brought the papers with him and dropped those on the doorstep. Was the chance getting to hear his wife tell him she didn’t love him anymore and that he needed to leave her alone permanently going to be worth the possibility of her coming back into his life with no questions asked? Every reward had its risks and he knew it, but this was the risk of forever losing something he’d had for seven years in legal marriage, and for years before that. Maribelle was the only woman he’d ever really loved and the only one he could ever see himself loving from then on, and he needed her to know that he felt that way, regardless of all of their differences in life.

The thing driving him to stay there was that love, that passion for her despite her leaving him, blaming him for everything she’d done wrong, yelling at him when he needed her support most…for being a horrible person to him more frequently in not in recent memory. Even though she was flawed, she wasn’t a bad person, and he saw that in her every time he’d seen her smile and heard her be happy about something. She had good intentions with everything she did, and he knew that her separating herself from him had been done because she felt it was for the better of them both, even if it hadn’t really been. And now he was in a place where she could come back into his life and everything would be fine no matter what, and if she turned him down then they’d be even worse off.

He took in a deep breath as he heard a car drive by, but it wasn’t a familiar one so he exhaled, no longer worrying that he’d been caught in the act of spying. His mind was racing with all the thoughts he’d pulled together earlier in the day as he was coming up with what to do, trying to make something so magical that it would get her to come right back to him. The music she loved was stuck on repeat in his head, all the songs they’d listened to together and made fun of while they were dating and married, up to a few songs that he’d been told she really enjoyed. On the seat next to him was a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers, tied together with a pink bow, sitting next to her favorite blush wine (that he paid a lot more for than he’d like to admit, despite being served for free at fancy restaurants) as well as a box that was held closed with a bow similar to the one on the flowers. These were gifts meant for a proper anniversary celebration, and even if he wasn’t able to convince her to come back he was going to try to get one last time with her before they were done for good.

It was beginning to get dark when he noticed that her car had finally pulled up in front of Lissa’s house, and that meant that it was time for him to take action. After making sure he looked decent in his rearview mirror, he grabbed the things out of the seat and got out of his vehicle, slightly limping his way down the sidewalk until he was walking up to their front door, heart beating wildly as he moved. There was one chance to make this work, and he had to hope that everything was going to go according to his exact plans.

His knock was shaky, more like a nervous teenage boy trying to get a girl for the first time and less like a man attempting to get his wife of seven years back into his life. He could see someone looking out through a window to see who was there, Owain’s face completely visible through the blinds, and when the boy disappeared it felt like that might have just put an end to what was meant to happen. Yet, when the door came open it was pulled all the way open, Maribelle standing in the doorway with one hand creeping up over her mouth in surprise at who she saw there waiting for her.

“Mari, I know things haven’t been the best, but c’mon, we’ve gotta put an end t’this,” he said, offering her the flowers and the box with the wine tucked under his arm so it didn’t drop. “I love ya and I’m sure ya still love me, what d’ya say we just go back t’my place for a bit and talk everythin’ out?”

Her mouth was clearly moving as she tried to come up with the appropriate words for a response, but it wasn’t until she’d opened the box and seen what it contained that she made any sound, a soft laugh that quickly turned into innocent giggles. “I don’t know what you’re expecting me to do with this,” she replied, closing the lid on the box and making him squirm at how she shifted her gaze onto him, sizing him up, “but I’d be more than happy to speak with you about ‘everything’, as you put it. As long as wearing this—” she jostled the box as she referred to it, “—comes with the perk of breaking into that wine at the same time.”

“I’ll do anythin’ for ya at this point, Mari, that’s how much I want ya back.”

“Then consider it an anniversary date.”


	13. The Shooting Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE make use of the line breaks in this chapter! it's 27k long and you deserve to treat yourself to a couple minutes of not reading in the middle of this!

The goal was to make it to the twenty-ninth. In a perfect world that would’ve been a much different goal and achieving it wouldn’t have been a hollow victory, but it was about the most realistic goal they could set given the circumstances surrounding why it needed to be set in the first place. That came from one night with a bottle of cheap wine, a newly-purchased set of lingerie that needed to be broken in, and a reminder that despite everything that had gone wrong, the best person around for Maribelle was Vaike, and the best person around for Vaike was Maribelle, end of discussion.

It wasn’t luck that he’d ended up on that front step that night, it was his dedication to his wife and his undying love that had drawn him to be there to try and win her back, but he hadn’t been aware that she had talked nonstop about him all day leading up to that fateful moment. Everyone that crossed her path at the office was treated to an earful about how she’d done some things severely wrong in regards to handling her marriage, and that if he never wanted to take her back she’d be crushed but she’d brought it upon herself. In fact, she’d been getting desperate to the point that she was considering asking someone to tell her where he lived so she could show up at his front door, but then he went ahead and did the honors of showing up at hers, bearing gifts that she couldn’t refuse even if she tried.

Since she had no idea where he lived, he walked her down the street to where he’d parked and drove her over to his house—to _their_ house, he kept reminding her. “We’ll have to see about that,” she teasingly said, waggling a finger in his direction as they drove. “I may decide it’s not good enough for me. You know, because I never had a say in picking this place.”

“Trust me, it’ll be exactly what ya wanted and more,” he replied, not bothering to look at what she was doing in case she became too distracting. “I really took everythin’ ya were arguin’ for into consideration when I found the place, and with some work we’ll really make it be ours, just like the last house.”

“You mean to tell me that you haven’t put in the customization work yet? I’m impressed, I didn’t expect you to have the self-control to keep that out of your mind.” He wanted to tell her that he hadn’t touched anything on a decorative level because he wanted her opinion on any decisions that needed to be made, but he kept his mouth shut and merely smiled and shrugged at what she said. “I’ll have to get a good look at the place and tell you what I think should be done about it, once we’re there, of course.”

“Ain’t there time for that after we’re done doin’ what we’re goin’ there to do?” They shared a laugh after she realized that yes, it was probably for the best that she put that off until after their time together, just in case she decided it wasn’t worth it, and their ride fell into a bout of silence. She was transfixed on him, watching how he was intently focused on driving, and his thoughts were all over the place but were mostly centered around how things were going to go once they were to the house. There was just one small issue that they were going to encounter as soon as they went inside, and he knew he needed to warn her of it before it caught her off-guard: “By the way, don’t get worried when ya see that there’s someone else there at the house, he won’t be botherin’ us too much once he knows why we’re there.”

Maribelle slightly tilted her head to the side, eyes moving all over as she processed the idea of there already being someone at the house. “What, did you get lonely without me and decide you need a roommate?” No sooner had her question left her lips did she catch what she’d said, and her eyebrows rose in suspicion. There was no way that certain events were related, she was merely jumping to conclusions…and yet when they turned down a street she was familiar with in name only, that conclusion looked to be more plausible by the second. “Oh gods, Vaike, are you trying to tell me you have a criminal living at the house?”

“Don’t talk ‘bout him like that, he’s actually a great guy. Which you’d know ‘cause of work reasons, now wouldn’t ya?” As they were pulling up to the house, so much smaller-looking than the last one they’d shared but somehow feeling more like home than the other ever really had, Maribelle found herself unsure of how to answer what he’d asked. He was fine with her saying nothing, as it meant their movement into the house was going to go a lot faster than he’d figured it would.

When he opened the door, he was expecting his music to still be playing, the playlist on an infinite shuffle that he’d purposely set up for when he got back with the person the music was intended for. The silence inside the home was not what he had been hoping for, and after looking around and seeing no one in any of the main parts of the house he had to apologize to Maribelle and move as fast as he could to go see what had prevented that part of his plan from working to fruition. He found Gaius there in the bedroom, a host of different job applications open on the computer screen. “Hey, wasn’t expecting you back anytime soon, how’d everything go for you?” Gaius asked, not even looking away from what he was doing on the computer. “I decided I’d try and get some things done while you were out, see if I could start making my own money now that I’ve turned my life around.”

“Yeah, that’s fine and all, but ya shouldn’t have turned my music off, that was for Mari once we came back and now she’s here and it’s quiet and ya made it weird!” Running his hands through the sides of his hair as he tried to think about what they could do now, Vaike saw Gaius turn his attention from the computer, still not looking at him but at something behind him. “What’re ya lookin’ at, are ya thinkin’ ‘bout somethin’ and starin’ out into space t’do it?”

“I believe he’s looking at me.” With a laugh as she pushed her way into the bedroom, arms still full of the three things she’d been given before, Maribelle glanced around the room before she took in a deep breath and gave a satisfied sigh. “This is…well, it isn’t a perfect situation but it’s a lot better than I’d expected. Good to see that you’re actually staying out of trouble here, Gaius, but could you do us a favor and leave for a little while?”

Nodding as he checked everything he’d opened on the computer before closing it all out, Gaius headed for the door, giving a wave once he was on his way out. “Have fun getting laid, you two, bet you both really need it!” he called as he was leaving, causing both of them inside the room to share a “did he really say that” look before they both broke into large smiles that nothing was going to stop.

The wine was opened, and in traditional Maribelle fashion it was downed from the bottle itself, them passing it between each other every time one of them wanting to take a drink. By the time it was emptied they'd caught each other up on everything that they'd been up to since the last time they'd had a pleasant conversation, and it was clear that they were both antsy to move on to something more than just talk. Their words only lasted so long, and once one of them was feeling a bit of a buzz from what they'd drank there was no turning back from what followed after. Clothes were thrown to the side, there wasn't even an opportunity for one of them to have a wardrobe change, and soon they were reacquainting themselves with each other in the most intimate of ways.

Ways that were supposed to have been being masked with music, but in the excitement of the moment that had never been turned back on. Out in the living room, able to hear nearly everything that was said above a normal speaking voice (and with how drunk and passionate it sounded there must not have been much that wasn't audible), Gaius laughed to himself and felt thankful that he didn't have his daughter back with him quite yet. As it dragged on and he could hear more and more of the romantic, sometimes dirty expressions being thrown around, he made the decision to step out and give them the privacy they deserved; once out in front of the house he came to the horrifying conclusion that something about the home wasn't insulated properly because they were just as audible outside as they were inside.

If that were the only instance of them getting that loud and raunchy together, it would have been forgivable, but over the next week this became a nightly occurrence. It only tapered off when a neighbor came by to warn them that their behavior was almost getting the authorities called on them, and by the time Gaius was able to bring Noire home with him they had stopped being so loud almost completely, so he wasn't going to have to explain what the loud screams of passion were to his young daughter. In the time where they hadn't been sleeping together, but also hadn't been living their normal lives or going to work like a functional adult would, they had gone ahead and reorganized and cleaned up everything they owned in the other rooms, so that Gaius wasn't sleeping on an air mattress in the living room and so that Noire had somewhere to sleep of her own. The other bedroom still had some junk in it but wasn't as crowded, but it wasn't as much of a priority because it wasn't like they needed more than two rooms clear.

That all changed at the end of the month, a fateful turn of events on top of the one that had transpired there on their anniversary. Maribelle hadn’t ever stopped tracking her cycles even though there had been moments where she feared there being a hiccup in her tracking, but when it came down to it and she was staring at a reality where she was two, three, _four_ days late, with no reason to assume anything was going to change about that, her world began to crumble around her once more. This was something she’d wanted for so long, yet the other times she’d had it there’d been so little time to let it sink in that she didn’t want to get her hopes up once more only to lose everything.

The way she chose to handle it was to silently freak out at herself in her office at work the day she’d come to her conclusion, occasionally checking her calendar to make sure she hadn’t been counting days wrong and getting worked up when there wasn’t anything happening. Once she was off that night, instead of choosing to handle everything on her own, she went straight home, finding everyone that lived at the house sitting in the living room huddled around the computer that had been brought into the room so they could all watch something together. “Sorry to interrupt whatever it is you three are watching,” she said once she’d been noticed upon entering, “but I need to borrow my husband for a few minutes, maybe more depending on how he behaves.”

“We’ll make sure to turn the volume up nice and loud while you’re gone,” Gaius replied, trying not to laugh as he spoke, while his daughter looked up at him with confusion in her eyes. When he saw that she didn’t get what he’d said, he pushed her head back down to looking at the screen. “You’ll understand when you’re older, Noire. It’s nothing you need to know now.”

“Yeah, the two ‘a ya can keep watchin’, I’ll just catch up later or somethin’.” Standing up out of his chair, Vaike didn’t have the chance to walk towards Maribelle, before she came at him, grabbing his arm and beginning to pull him down to where their bedroom was. As they moved, they could both hear the sound on the computer roar to life, progressively getting louder despite them moving further from it. It wasn’t until they were in the bedroom and she was beginning to take her pants off that he decided to get their conversation started. “What’s goin’ on right now, it ain’t usual for ya t’come in and immediately wanna start talkin’. Normally ya want a moment t’yourself.”

“I’m aware that’s what I tend to do, but there’s a reason for me not doing that this time, I swear. You just have to keep your lips completely sealed about this until I say you can talk about it.” She was miming zipping her lips closed, which he reacted to by doing the same even though he didn’t know why. “Okay, good. Now we’re going to go out for a little bit, just let me change into something less stuffy before we go, it’s really hot out and I’m not enjoying myself wearing such formal clothes.”

Watching her switch into a shorter skirt and begin to take off her shirt to change it as well, Vaike was mentally running through what she’d just said and knew that he needed to know what was going on but was so distracted by watching her that he couldn’t form the words. Once they were on their way out of the house, having explained to Gaius that they’d be back relatively quickly, he was letting her take full control of what they were doing and still didn’t have a clue as to what was happening. There were times where he considered asking, but Maribelle seemed to be so dead-set on what she was doing that he didn’t want to dissuade her from whatever it was. She had a plan and he wasn’t going to stand between her and getting it done.

He’d assumed at first that they were going over to a friend’s house, but when they didn’t go in the direction of where anyone they’d realistically visit lived, that dashed that idea. Then came the thought that they were going back to her work, which he would have understood but didn’t see happening, especially when they turned to go in the opposite direction of where the office was. By that point, he was starting to grow worried that they weren’t going anywhere he was going to like being and he needed to say something. “Say, Maribelle, when’re ya gonna tell me where we’re goin’? Ain’t it kinda weird that ya haven’t told me much beyond needin’ t’keep somethin’ secret?”

“That would be because I don’t know how to tell you this,” she admitted, glancing at him for a split-second before needing to make a turn into a parking lot outside a corner store. “Maybe there’s a reason I intended on having others around the last times I wanted to tell you this, because I didn’t know—”

“Not another word.” As she was parking the car, he gripped her arm to the point that he was sure he could be cutting off circulation, not wanting to let go of her. “C’mon now, Mari, y’know that ya can tell me anythin’ ya need to, we might’ve had our ups and downs recently but now we’re fine, there’s no reason t’feel scared t’tell me somethin’ that’s on your mind.”

“—trust me, I know you’re right, but I…don’t know how you’re going to take this.” Forcing herself to laugh, she turned the car off and focused entirely on him, watching how he was beginning to look panicked as he still held onto her tightly. “I know how you’ve felt about this particular thing in the past and I’m not sure how you feel about it right now, but there’s no guarantee I’m right and there’s also nothing saying that this won’t change in a few weeks’ time, given our past history with this.”

If what she was saying was supposed to clarify anything, the meaning was entirely lost on Vaike, as he let go of her arm because he wasn’t even fully sure why he’d been confused about anything in the first place. “What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout now? Gonna haveta spell it out nice and simple for me, all I’m hearin’ is ya tryin’ t’make excuses ‘bout why ya haven’t explained anythin’ yet!”

“I’m not making excuses, I just suppose I’ve forgotten how dense you can be at times.” Rather than going ahead and explaining anything, Maribelle opened her door and got out of the vehicle, walking around and heading for the entrance of the store without caring if he was following her or not. Naturally he did jump to catch up with her, not wanting to get left behind if it were possible, but when he was behind her once more she was right inside the front door of the store, looking around for something in particular. When he placed his hands on her shoulders to alert her of his presence she ignored it, ducking out from in front of him to start towards wherever she had been looking for.

Her determination and focus were admirable, but even with how dedicated she was to what she was doing she still hadn’t explained anything and he didn’t know what she was going to do. It was entirely possible that she was being cryptic and strange to try and weird him out, or to make him rethink their relationship now that they were working to rebuild it, but he diligently followed her to the back corner of the store, where she was staring blankly at him. “Okay, is this the part where ya drop the act and tell me what’s goin’ on?” he asked, looking around at everything that was there in the corner, from the small selection of auto parts, to the last part of the alcohol cooler, to the personal items and objects. “If this is your way of sayin’ that your car needs fixin’ or that we need t’have another night where we’re drinkin’ together, I’m pretty sure that there are plenty ‘a other places we coulda gone for that.”

“How have you…no, you know what, I think I know exactly how you haven’t figured it out yet.” The look on Maribelle’s face was amused at his expense, but Vaike wasn’t sure why that was; that all changed when she bent down and grabbed something off the shelf he hadn’t commented on, only to straighten up and push past him without explaining anything. In the moment he had to make a decision he chose to follow her rather than get down and look for himself at what she’d grabbed, but given that all the boxes on that shelf seemed to be feminine products, he didn’t feel it was necessary to investigate further. It didn’t make sense why she’d dragged him to the store to get something for herself, but spending time with her was always appreciated so it wasn’t anything to complain about.

She’d already gotten whatever she was getting into a bag when he made it back behind her and after she’d paid for it she snatched it before he had a chance to investigate. This led him to ask her, as she was walking out without a word to him, “Is all this really necessary right now? I mean, you’re just makin’ a big deal ‘bout nothin’ now, aren’t ya? What’s the point of me even bein’ here?”

By the time he’d made it to the car she was sitting in it, waiting for him to join her, and it was once he was buckled in that she sighed deeply and seemed ready to talk. “I already told you, I don’t know how to tell you this. Once we’re back to the house and I can put this to use I think it might be easier, but for now I only have my words.”

“Just go ahead and tell me it however ya think ya can, I’m ready t’hear it now.” Hoping his calm voice would be reassuring enough that he was willing to hear whatever she had to say, however she had to say it, he was beginning to expect the worst. Things along the lines of her admitting to not actually still loving him, or to her saying she’d been with someone else during their time apart, or anything negative that would ruin what they had, were all running through his mind, and he needed her to put a stop to those fears.

What she told him instead made him fearful in a much different way. “We’re going to check this as soon as we get home, but as it stands I am fairly confident that I’m pregnant, and if that’s the case then…” Her voice trailed off as she heard him taking in several sharp gasps, quickly exhaling the previous one before growing louder on the next one. “H-hey now, if anyone here’s supposed to be hyperventilating, it should be me! This is the third time I’ve been in this situation before, but the first that I’ve brought you along for it. It doesn’t ever get easier to think that there might be a child growing inside of you.”

“I get ya there, but think about me here for a second, will ya? That’s some heavy news ya just kinda threw there at me, and I’m just—I can’t—Mari, are ya sure that there ain’t any possibility you’re wrong ‘bout this?” He wasn’t well-versed in much to do with children, which made completely understanding what she was working with rather difficult. “I mean, we just got back together a couple weeks ago, there ain’t any way that if there’s a child in there, that it could be mine, is there?”

“Gods, did you think that I could ever bring myself to sleep with someone else while still legally married? I have standards, you know!” The drive home became a crash course on explaining the rough timeline of how babies were made and how long it took for a mother to know if she was carrying one or not, something that was made easier for her by the fact that she tracked her cycles to the time of day they started and ended. The explanation lasted longer than the drive did, and rather than go inside their house to finish talking she wrapped it up while they were still sitting out in the car; when she was finished she got out with her bag in hand, him too stunned by what he’d just heard to move for several minutes.

When he did walk into the house, Gaius and Noire were still where they’d been when they’d left, the sound of what they were watching turned up as loud as it could get. “Saw Maribelle walk in a bit ago, she seemed focused on something,” Gaius told him as he came closer to see what they were watching now, which happened to be a later episode of what they’d been watching before. “Don’t screen-look, you’re behind and you’ll get spoiled if you’re watching with us now! Go see what’s going on with your woman, will you?”

It took a second for the fact that he was being pushed in a certain direction to click in Vaike’s mind, but once it did he nodded and excused himself from the room, trying to figure out where it was that Maribelle had gone. She didn’t seem to be in the bedroom, which was where he checked first, although the bag she’d been holding was on the bed, crumpled up and tossed aside. “Where’d ya go, Mari?” he called out, not knowing where she’d need to go to use whatever it had been she’d bought. “Ya can’t keep walkin’ off and expectin’ me t’follow ya there!”

The reply he got was muffled by a wall, but it was her replying to him that she was in the bathroom and that he needed to stay where he was. Taking that answer to heart, he walked over to the edge of the bed and sat on it, watching the doorway to wait until she came into the room. Her hand was gripping something tightly, and she looked to be a mix of excited and scared out of her mind. “I don’t believe in luck, never have and never will, but something’s telling me this might be our lucky break,” she said after coming in and shutting the door behind her, so what they said would be hopefully kept between them. “I feel like this is the time everything we want and need is going to fall into place exactly how it needs to, no heartbreaks or losses anywhere in sight!”

“If you’re implyin’ what I think you are, can ya just go ahead and tell me so I can start bracin’ myself for it?” His eyes were watching her face, seeing how she was bouncing between her two visible emotions rapidly. “I need ya t’let me in on this easy, don’t scare me too much with whatever it is.” To brace himself for what he assumed was coming, he got off the bed and took a step away from it, to give them some room and limit chance of injury.

What she was holding fell out of her hand and bounced onto the floor as she ran at him, grabbing him into a tight hug that he figured he was expected to reciprocate the moment it started. “You know exactly what I’m implying, you meathead,” she choked out, tearful emotions beginning to overtake her. “But we’re not letting anyone else know about this until we know we’ve got next to no chance of losing the little guy or girl, got it?”

“Y-yeah, got it,” he managed to say before he could feel himself getting emotional as well, knowing that this was either going to go perfectly or it was going to go horribly, and there was no middle-ground in sight. They held each other for a few solid minutes, both crying onto the other and only calming down when they separated, looking at each other’s tear-stained faces with wavering lips that were attempting to break into smiles. Just like she’d asked him to do before, he mimed zipping his lips shut, proving that he was going to keep his word about not telling anyone what they knew.

Of course, Maribelle demanding that there be secrecy surrounding what was happening until they were confident everything would be okay required a lot more cooperation than just the two of them. That started with the man living with them, who’d heard more of what had been going on between them than anyone ever should have had to, who looked at them both in their emotional states when they came out of the bedroom and shook his head at them. “Let me guess, we’re going to have to go find our own place as soon as possible, aren’t we?” he suggested, pushing his daughter off of his lap so he could stand up, while she scrambled to take full control of the show they were still watching on the computer. “Unless you’re planning on having us help clean that extra room, so maybe the baby can sleep in there.”

“How did you already figure that out?” Maribelle asked, her eyes going wide as she tried to replay exactly what she’d done when she entered the house before, knowing that she’d been doing her best to hide what she’d been holding. “I know for a fact there’s no way you can tell looking at me, not—”

“Calm down, princess, I can’t tell looking at you, not yet.” After glancing back to make sure Noire was absorbed in what she was watching, and therefore not paying attention to the adult conversation taking place in the same room she was in, Gaius continued talking to the couple, who were both staring at him as they waited for his explanation. “As I’m sure you’ve known, because the neighbors have called you out on it, when the two of you are in your room alone together, you get loud. Loud enough that it’s very, very obvious that you’re in there having some steamy time together. So it’s a no-brainer that you’re being so weird, because you’re obviously in that ‘I just found out I’m pregnant’ stage and you’re trying to figure out what to do about it.”

“You don’t tell anyone a word of that, we don’t want anyone outside of us in this room knowing right now.” Forcefully, even though she was still working through her overwhelming emotional response, Maribelle pointed a finger in Gaius’ direction, and he shuffled backwards, hands raising in defense. “You may have been able to figure it out without us telling you, but you aren’t going to tell anyone else, got it?”

He gave her a look that questioned how serious she was about what she was saying but ultimately nodded, asking immediately after if he could go back to spending time with his daughter rather than being on the hot seat for something he’d pieced together. “Oh, and if you do make us move out, we’ll do it as soon as we have to,” he said with a wink as he went back to sitting with Noire. “Just don’t tell us we have to get out the day you need us gone. Would hate for our time here to end on a sour note.”

“I can’t believe he figured it out so quickly, I had no idea that he’d jump to that conclusion right away and be correct about it.” Shaking her head as she lowered her hand back to her side, Maribelle scrunched her nose as she thought about something, before she relaxed and turned to look at Vaike, who was still clearly mentally processing everything going on. “But he knows and he’ll keep his trap shut about it, so now we just have to go through the next month or two without spilling a word of this to anyone. Easy enough, I suppose.”

It was going to be far from easy, especially when every time she started to think about how there was some form of a child inside of her, trying its best to grow into something notable and memorable in a positive way. She’d go to visit with friends and get into conversations about children and how, now that she was back with her husband that must mean that they were in talks about trying to start a family once more, and all she could do was awkwardly laugh and say it wasn’t the time for that. Getting to see her boys was a nightmare, because she’d be holding Yarne and the realization that she’d hopefully get to hold her own child like that in the near future would strike her and almost bring her to tears, but she couldn’t tell Panne or Lon’qu (whichever one of them was closest at the time) why she was so emotional about holding a baby. Things only got worse when she was back at Lissa and Frederick’s to spend time with Owain, because he was older, wiser, and going on and on about how excited he was to be getting a baby sister.

Everyone knew that the whole family was thrilled about their new addition, even though they were still a little bit out from her joining them, and it was actually their happiness about what they were getting that was making Maribelle even warier about telling anyone else her news. She didn’t want to force herself into somewhere she didn’t belong, making them happy for her and what she was going to have at the same time as being happy for what they were having, and she certainly didn’t want to overshadow their moment with everyone getting excited for hers. The best she could do was wait until the dust there had settled a bit and then drop the news that she was pregnant on everyone, but maintaining the self-control when she wanted to get her chance to shine was harder than she ever thought it could be.

That was why she was thankful she’d initially said that it needed to stay secret for a month or two, because that way she could keep reminding herself that two months exactly from when she’d found out was the end of September, and that would be a perfect amount of time to let everything else sort itself out before she added a new layer to it. But just like with having to be flexible when it came to who all knew from the start, that rough date was going to change the moment she got too overwhelmed and lost her filter about it all. She just didn’t expect that it would be when she went to go visit her dear best friend hours after she’d had her daughter, especially since she’d been trying so hard to keep her mouth closed whenever it came to overshadowing that very event.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be here at your side while you were going through everything today,” she apologized moments after entering the little room on the upper floor of the hospital, where the only other person there at the moment was Lissa herself, who was rightfully tired and didn’t seem to mind the delay in Maribelle’s visit. “I was caught up in something at work and hadn’t even gotten Frederick’s calls about you being here until long after he’d made them. Where is he, anyway?”

“He went to go pick Owain up, since we forgot to give my brother his carseat earlier in the panic of getting over here. We can’t have them driving unsafely, you know.” Her voice showing how tired she really was, Lissa had done her best to look in Maribelle’s direction as she spoke but seemed to not have the energy to do much more than turn her head her way. “They’ll be here soon enough, I’m just happy that I’m not here by myself anymore thanks to you coming in.”

“I don’t know if I’d be able to handle being in this place alone, not for anything.” Looking around the room, at the little stork-shaped decorations hanging on the walls that were meant to make the place feel more inviting and less like another part of the hospital, Maribelle’s mind went to the fact that being trapped in a similar place would be her reality come springtime, but she couldn’t say that out loud at the moment. “I’ll keep you company until he’s back, maybe longer if him coming back means they’re bringing her in.”

Giving a content sigh, Lissa peacefully smiled at the suggestion. “That’s what we’re hoping for, so that Owain can actually meet his sister and hopefully not have a meltdown over it. They didn’t want him coming in here at all, but I begged for them to make an exception because he’s a big three-year-old, he can be respectful around a newborn.”

“I take it that’s why Panne’s not here right now, because if you had to fight to get your son in, they definitely wouldn’t let Yarne in here.” Maribelle ignored the part where if Panne really wanted to come visit, she had a whole bunch of people who’d be willing to watch her son for her to make it happen, because she was trying to make small-talk with her friend to pass the time. “Those kids’ll get to meet at some point soon, I’m sure, knowing how close you two are.”

“We’ve already got plans to do that, yeah. Have to wait a few weeks, but it’ll happen and it’ll be amazing!” Despite her tiredness, Lissa still managed to sound excited about what she was saying, as if the prospect of having her new baby meet another young child was the most thrilling thing happening there at the moment. “And when it comes time for them to meet your kid at some point in the future, we won’t have to deal with any of this because they’ll be old enough to get in without problems, I’m sure.”

The words escaped her mouth before she was able to process what she was actually saying, and the result was Maribelle accidentally referring to something that she knew she shouldn’t have: “I mean, Yarne may be able to get in that time, but your little one still won’t be a year old so she’ll be more difficult to allow in.” When she realized what she’d just said, and how she’d specifically given a general span of time that she was expecting to have a child of her own, her eyes widened and she began to sputter, trying to come up with some way to spin what she’d said into a hypothetical, instead of a fact.

“Hold on, are you two actually planning on having a baby now? Like, _soon_?” The excitement seemed to be growing in Lissa’s voice, the prospect of her best friend having a child dragging her away from her exhaustion. “Oh my gods that’s so exciting! If you’re right, and it does happen within the next year, that means that they’ll be super close in age with my Emersyn, and a little close in age with Yarne, and the three of them can be great friends like you, me, and Panne are!”

“Yeah, uh, about that…” Biting her lip as she realized that she’d made a fatal mistake and now she needed to correct everything before stories got mixed up and Lissa began expecting something else to be true that wasn’t exactly the truth, Maribelle came to her friend’s bedside and drew a chair to it, sitting down before she came clean about what she’d meant. “I’m not saying that we might be trying to start a family within the next year, I’m saying that we are starting one. This isn’t quite how I intended on telling you, and it’s definitely not when I was going to, but I’m pregnant. About ten weeks or so.” She heard Lissa’s gasp at the news and quickly added, “It’s not your place to tell anyone about this, we aren’t ready for everyone to know yet so please keep your mouth shut about it!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone! Is that why you didn’t bring Vaike with you, because you thought he’d see Emersyn and accidentally do what you did and talk about your future baby? Except you didn’t even need her in the room to get motivated by her, huh?” There was a grin on Lissa’s face that seemed to span from ear to ear, her being far too excited about her friend’s big news than anything else currently happening.

While that did change once more people were there and the new baby was brought in to see everyone, Lissa was somehow able to keep her promise about not breaking the news to anyone else. Maribelle, on the other hand, once again failed herself and what she expected everyone else to do the moment she was allowed to get her hands on the newborn girl, who was fast asleep when she’d been brought in. “I don’t know why I ever told myself starting a family wasn’t what I needed to do,” she said as she was looking at the swaddled baby, noting how tiny everything about her was. “When springtime comes and I’m holding my own child, I hope they’re every bit as perfect as you are, Emersyn.”

“Pardon to interrupt you talking to a sleeping newborn, but I have something to ask you,” Frederick said, as he was standing right behind Maribelle and had heard every word she’d just spoken. “When you say ‘springtime’, you don’t mean the actual season, do you? You’re using it as floral language, correct?”

“I didn’t think anyone was listening to me, honestly. No, I do mean the actual season, you can ask Lissa about it at some point because I’m sure she’s been wanting to tell you since the moment I told her.” Her eyes moving from the baby’s face to the mother’s, seeing how she was shaking with anticipation to get to share her friend’s news, Maribelle wished she’d been more careful with what she’d said but she knew she couldn’t take anything back. It was only two people who knew outside of the initial three, that wasn’t going to break everything apart and she could find peace in that fact.

Yet for some reason, she was woken up the next morning not by her alarm going off for work, but by a phone call that she answered the moment she saw the name on her phone’s screen. “Mari, you put your husband on this phone right now so I can speak with him,” Lon’qu sternly said, surprising her as she wasn’t expecting to get a call where she was the middle-man. “He has some explaining to do to me, and I need him to do it before we’re busy for the day.”

Without thinking much of it, she rolled onto her side and shook Vaike until he was awake, only to hand him the phone without saying who was calling. After he’d grabbed it from her she got up and headed to the bathroom to start getting ready for work, and it was while she was standing in front of the mirror, pins and clips in hand as she was trying to do her hair for the day that someone started frantically knocking on the locked door behind her. “Why was that what I got woken up by today?” Vaike was asking her, his voice loud even through the door. “C’mon, why is it that you tell me I need t’keep my mouth shut but people find out when I haven’t been tellin’ anyone anythin’!”

“What are you talking about? I don’t know how he’d know anything, I haven’t told—” Before she could finish her sentence in good conscience Maribelle realized the exact chain of events that had led to that call happening and she groaned, setting one hand’s worth of clips down to unlock the door so Vaike could join her in the bathroom. He passed her back her phone once he was inside, and she could see that the call had ended and all she had left on it was an apology message she hadn’t even noticed when she’d answered the call. “I suppose I did, ahem, possibly let something slip in front of Lissa last night when I went to see her. And maybe I said something else when I was holding Emersyn, and that might’ve been overheard by Frederick. But that doesn’t explain how it got to Lon’qu already!”

“He told me that Panne found out last night and told him because she wasn’t told it was any kind of secret that should’ve kept bein’ kept secret! He’s angry that we hadn’t told them ourselves and that they found out through someone else, which I’d be mad about too if I were them, after everythin’ they did for us!” The moment Vaike realized his voice had started raising with every word and he’d finished off what he was saying almost yelling it into Maribelle’s face, he went to tell her he hadn’t meant to get so heated, but the damage was already done and she was already backed against the wall crying. “Whoa there, please don’t be cryin’ over this, we can just go talk to ‘em after you’re home from work tonight and sort all this out, I’m sure they’ll understand if ya say that no one was supposed t’know!”

“I didn’t know that Lissa would tell Panne the first chance she got, and you know I didn’t mean to tell Lissa anything, why are you yelling at me about this?” It was clear that Maribelle was not exactly in the best place emotionally that morning, given that she was crying harder right then than she had the day she’d found out she was pregnant, but there wasn’t anything they could do about her feelings being hurt right then. They did have to set the record straight as soon as possible, and that meant a second night in a row spent somewhere that wasn’t at home, telling people who weren’t supposed to know anything everything they had to share.

From there, after it was made clear to the now four people who were let in on the secret (two being told over the phone while the other two were being told in person) that they weren’t to tell anyone else what they knew, keeping the secret was a lot easier. That was due to the fact that there were now options for people to talk to it about, which took away the stress of not being able to discuss it anywhere but at home. By the end of the month, though, based on the fact that the child seemed to still be healthy and growing week by week, it felt like it was about time to give everyone else they knew the announcement that they were expecting a baby after seven years of being married.

The timing for when that announcement was made couldn’t have been more awful, because when Maribelle had set her mind on a date that stood out to her she hadn’t given much thought to why that date was important until the day before, when she was asked to come to a party for a few minutes the following night to be honored for making the party possible in the first place. She’d had the twenty-ninth of September in mind as when she could tell people because that was days after she’d made it safely out of the highest rate for miscarriage, and the date just felt like it was a good one to her. But what she’d been asked, to show up to a child’s first birthday party and remind everyone there that she was the one responsible for rescuing that child from the kidnapping-like situation she’d been in, reminded her that the sole reason that date stuck out in her mind was because she remembered it specifically as being Kjelle’s birthday.

However, she wasn’t going to turn down the request to go and be celebrated for a few minutes, especially when she was able to turn the time into her stealthily dropping the news that she was expecting a child of her own; doing that did earn her getting her name yelled at her by several unhappy adults, the most annoyed being Virion, who felt that his little girl was getting overshadowed by a grown woman and an unborn baby. She’d been so mindful about trying not to make herself seem more important than her adult friends that she’d completely forgotten to consider children deserving the same kind of respect, but seeing everyone’s faces when they heard her talk about how she wasn’t going to let a similar situation to what had happened with them go on because she was having her own child in her own body was priceless, something all the anger in the world couldn’t ruin.

If there was one positive to the whole thing, it was that while they were there, before everything turned into a disaster, they got to spend time with yet another child, a small step towards getting to spend time with their own.

* * *

Looking forward to the twenty-ninth of every month became something easy to do. The next month, that was the date of when they got to see the baby for the second time (the first having been when it was just a tiny little thing, nothing remarkable but something alive and growing). The goal of that appointment had been just to check up on the little one and make sure everything was going fine with them, but based on how far into development they were at the time there had been the chance to get to see what they were, if they were cooperating with the procedure. The doctor seemed to really want to get that taken care of, but the attempt came up with nothing due to how the baby had positioned themselves.

The big things from that appointment were the somewhat clear views of their little face, seeing that they were real and beginning to look more like a person than they had before, and the fact that even though she was nearly halfway into the pregnancy her blood pressure—which had always been higher thanks to constant stresses in her life—hadn’t changed for the better and seemed to be getting worse. Combining that with her relatively reoccurring headaches that she’d started to suffer from weeks before, when it was brought to Maribelle’s attention it didn’t initially seem to be anything to be concerned about because it was something she’d started to recognize as being normal for her. Only after she was talking to her friends about it the following night, those of whom were willing to gather sitting around the table in Panne’s dining room with all of the pictures scattered in front of them did she start to understand that what she’d been told was actually something serious that needed to be kept in mind.

“When a doctor, especially one that knows very well what they’re doing and has been at this for decades, tells you that there’s a high chance for something going wrong that could risk your life and your child’s life because of symptoms you’re considering ‘normal’, you listen to them,” Panne said after she’d heard the whole story, looking across the table at Maribelle as she shifted in her seat. “Either that, or you choose to endanger yourself or your baby. It’s your call.”

“I’m going to listen, seriously, I’m not stupid. I want to live and I want my kid to live too, I’m going to do whatever I need to so I can make sure we’re both okay.” Her fingers fidgeting under the table, occasionally brushing up against her shirt, which was straining against her growing stomach, Maribelle looked around at everyone that was there, her eyes ultimately landing on Vaike and how he seemed to be off in his own world even with the heaviness of the conversation they were having around him. “I don’t know what it is about _us_ and having issues with having children, but I am not losing this one, I swear on my life.”

“We’ll help you keep your spirits up if it gets rough,” Lissa added with a smile, twirling one of the pictures under one hand while her other hand was rocking the child carrier in the chair next to her, where Emersyn was quietly fussing as she drifted off to sleep. “It’s not fun to think about anything going wrong for you, but I’m sure you can beat it!”

“Correction, we’re sure you can beat it.” When Panne spoke, she was referring to not just everyone there at the table, but so many others that weren’t present for the meeting, all of the friends that they had between them. “You just have to keep your health on the forefront of your mind, or else everything will go wrong, and fast. That does mean stopping working as soon as you can, unless you have a death wish.”

“Don’t you think I heard that part of this when I was talking to the doctor? It was made super clear that I need to get out of anything stressful and work-like if I want to have a happy, healthy baby on my hands in the future.” Her fidgeting was getting worse, the fear of what could potentially happen if she didn’t heed the warnings starting to flood her mind, but Maribelle didn’t want to tell her friends to leave her alone about what was happening. She’d expected their meeting that night to be full of talking about positive things relating back to the baby, maybe hearing them all try to scramble and come up with names for the little one that would immediately get rejected, possibly talk about who had things they’d be willing to part with to help with starting to stockpile belongings. She hadn’t been prepared for everyone to latch onto talking about the fact that her body seemed to be wanting to reject carrying a child to term within it, even though that was definitely the more notable part of what had actually happened at the appointment.

“Apologies if me entering now is interrupting anything you’re talking about,” Lon’qu said as he walked into the room, holding Yarne under one arm while the boy wiggled around, unable to get free because of how tightly he was being held, “but I need to get him away from the other child currently running around the house, before I catch Owain attempting to roll him over when he doesn’t want to be rolling.”

All eyes went from focusing elsewhere to looking down the table at Lissa, whose jaw had dropped slightly at the idea of her son causing any sort of trouble. “B-but I made sure that he was told he needed to be nice and behave while we were here, why would he not listen to me about that?”

“He’s a young boy who’s far too excited to be with a friend to care about listening to what his mother told him. And because, as you know, his father is more focused on work than properly watching him, he doesn’t have anyone scolding him to put him in his place. I figured removing Yarne from the situation would solve things, that’s all.” Jostling the boy to make him laugh, Lon’qu took a couple seconds to glance at everyone there at the table, before his eyes fell to his wife. “Panne, could you take hold of him while I get together the special thing we prepared for tonight?”

His emphasis on the words “special thing”, while rather flat, was noticeable enough to everyone’s ears that they couldn’t help but attach themselves to it, everyone now looking at Lon’qu in case he was going to make any motions as to what it was. Instead, they were given watching him put Yarne in his mother’s waiting arms before he walked back out of the room. “I don’t know why he insists on doing this tonight, I can think of several much better times for this reveal,” she remarked, visibly bouncing one of her arms as her son was laying against it. “The least he could have done was ask me if I was fine with doing this tonight.”

Oblivious to much of what had been happening, and unsure if he’d missed something while he’d been tuning everyone out to focus on his own thoughts, Vaike wanted to ask about what, exactly, was being talked about. He knew that people were allowed to keep secrets and talk vaguely about them in front of others, but he wasn’t sure if this one had been properly discussed while he hadn’t been paying attention or not. Reaching over to place his hand on Maribelle’s knee, so that she could easily smack him if he said something dumb, he looked straight over at Panne and asked her, “What’s this reveal about, huh? Ain’t anythin’ big and excitin’, is it?”

“Whatever you’re thinking it is, you’re dreadfully mistaken,” she replied, not even acknowledging him with a glance as she spoke to him, as her eyes had now been focused down on her son as he tried rolling out of her grasp. “You’ll see what it is and most likely be happy for a moment but then the crushing reality of it all will hit you and you’ll despise everything about it afterwards.”

Vaike’s eyes began to narrow slightly as he thought about all of the possibilities of what she could be talking about, but when Maribelle rested her hand on top of his and gently pressed down against it, he stopped worrying so much about something that didn’t really matter. “I gotcha, it’s gonna be one of those joke gifts that everyone’s gonna laugh about until it ain’t funny anymore. Here I was thinkin’ it was gonna be somethin’ else entirely.”

“Can we please stop talking about this and get back to what’s more important?” Lissa said, trying to shake off the fact that the whole interruption had initially been about her son, who still hadn’t come back into the room. “We were having a huge conversation about something that actually matters before all that happened, we need to ignore whatever special gift Lon’qu went to go get and talk more about the whole ‘Maribelle needs to make sure she doesn’t die’ thing!”

“I’m fine with us not talking about that again, actually.” To anyone just listening to her, it sounded like Maribelle was just being difficult, but to anyone who could see her fidgeting, or feel how hard she was tightening her hand on what she was now holding, the truth was that she was beginning to get increasingly scared about what could happen to her. She’d spent the past day dreading having to put in an extended leave of absence from her job, hopefully to return at some point in the future, and resign herself to a life of sitting around at home doing nothing for months on end. The last thing she’d wanted was to come over to a meeting with her friends that should have been a much lighter affair and have them tell her all the things she needed to do or not to in order to stay alive.

“I mean, if you’re fine with it, I guess we can move onto something happier.” There was clear apprehension in Lissa’s voice as she spoke, not really sure if what she was saying was the right choice or not, but she didn’t want to hurt or offend her friend if it wasn’t necessary. “It kinda sucks though, I was hoping we’d get to talk all things baby today and discuss what you’re going to do about them, but we don’t even know what they’re gonna be!”

Reaching for one of the pictures on the table with the one hand she had free and holding it up once she had it, Panne laughed at the specifics of what Lissa had said. “And why does it matter if they don’t know what the child is? They can still be prepared either way, as long as they’re focused on having options for any and all outcomes.”

“We know what they’re going to be named, no matter what,” Maribelle told everyone, earning herself a confused glance from her husband, who didn’t seem to be in on whatever she was talking about. “Okay, _I_ know, but he’ll know soon enough because my plan’s got options for everything and that’s how it should be.”

The confusion turned into a blank stare that was an obvious call for further explanation, something that she insisted would have to come later. “Why’s it that you’ve got all this figured out and I’m not allowed t’know anythin’ ‘bout it right now? What kind ‘a game are ya playin’ right now, Mari?”

“I’m not playing any game at all, don’t you worry.” Winking at him to be playful, what she got in return was two other voices asking her to explain to all of them what she was going on about because she wasn’t being clear about anything. “No way, I’m not telling a soul what names are on my mind right now, I’m going to keep them all to myself until we’re home, and then from there maybe we’ll decide to let you in on the secret.”

“Because us keepin’ secrets from all these guys works so well, right?” Beginning to suspect that maybe Maribelle didn’t have a clue about what she was saying after all, Vaike wanted to drop the subject and just discuss it once more when they were home, but something about his attempted transition into a new topic went awry and Maribelle abruptly pushed her chair back from the table and stood up, brushing his hand off as she did. “Where d’ya think you’re goin’ right now?” he asked after her as she started to walk away from the table, the others there both looking at her with worried eyes. “You’re not thinkin’ that you’re gonna just leave now, are ya?”

“Why would I be thinking that? I just need to walk around a bit, stretch my legs, I was getting uncomfortable just sitting there.” Her getting up was a large mistake, because when she was in view of one of the other rooms, a blur of a child came running at her, tackling her and nearly throwing her into the ground with his force. Watching the impact, all three adults still at the table yelled out to try and make sure everyone involved was okay and that it wouldn’t happen again—what resulted there was an immediately-overwhelmed pregnant woman started crying, because the three-year-old that had tackled her realized he was in trouble had begun screaming after hearing his name yelled at him. The combined sound of them both was enough to wake a mostly-asleep infant and cause her to begin shrieking, and once Emersyn was able to be distinctly heard over the others that was enough to set Yarne off, him being more upset because of everyone else than anything going wrong for him.

The sudden explosion in noise in the room drew the others in the house out from where they’d been to check on what was happening, and while by the time they were there one of the children was already calming down but the other two weren’t and were progressively upsetting the other more with their continued crying, it was still loud in the room when they got there. “I saw Owain leave the room out of the corner of my eye, what was it that he did to cause all of this drama once he was here?” Frederick asked, bending down to pick his now-quieting down son up off the ground to hold him close to him. “Would anyone give me the courtesy of explaining it?”

He was met with nothing but the sounds of everyone else there trying to fix all of the hurt feelings and upset people that were present. “From what it looks like, I’d guess that Owain came in and started making noise, causing the younger kids to cry,” Lon’qu suggested once he got to take a good look at the scene in the room. “As for why Maribelle’s crying as well, I…I have no good guesses on that one. Perhaps she just felt the need to cry?”

“That sounds reasonable to me.” The two men waited until the room was a bit quieter to sort out what had actually gone wrong, and once they knew that what Lon’qu said was partially correct but that the person to blame for everything was Owain, that was when Frederick shook his head at the boy still in his arms, who was giving a large smile as if he hadn’t done anything wrong at all. “This must be your way of telling me you need a bit more observation at times, which is fine. Let’s go find you something to do while I keep working, something that doesn’t involve tackling people.”

As they walked back to whatever room they’d been in, Owain could be heard protesting the whole idea, because he wanted to be “with the gi-i-i-irls”, said in a sing-song voice that was just precious enough to make a couple people laugh. “Ahem, that wasn’t how I wanted to get brought back in here but I suppose it works.” Lon’qu pulled out a piece of paper from behind him, which he held up above his head and shook a couple times. “Everyone sit back down, get comfortable, we’re going to talk about this and get it over with so I never have to think about this again.”

It took several minutes for everyone to be back in the seats they’d had originally, with no hint of children crying or screaming to disrupt what they were doing, and once he felt the scene was properly set Lon’qu threw the paper down on the table and gestured towards Panne for her to explain it. “This isn’t my idea, nor is it anything I know much about,” she said, looking at him with a straight face. “If you’re going to bring this up now, you’re going to be the one to talk to them about it.”

“You said you had a special thing for them, not that you were going to bring out paperwork and make them fill it out.” At her end of the table, hands both full with holding Emersyn as it was the only way to get her to properly calm down, Lissa was trying her best to see what the sheet that was now on the table said, but she was unable to do so at her angle. “I think you’ve tricked them into thinking you’ve got something good for them.”

“We do have something good for them, let us explain it before you make any comments like that,” Lon’qu snapped in reply, earning several gasps in return for his brashness. “She is not giving us the opportunity to—no, please, don’t take it and read it yourself!” As he was defending his choice to be rude, Vaike had decided to take initiative and grab the paper so that maybe he could make sense of something that was happening for a change. He’d barely gotten through the first part of the document, which was blanks for personal information for whoever was making a purchase, when a hand grabbed it back from him and put it down on the table a second time. “You have to let us explain it before you start looking it over. That’s all I ask.”

“Then get t’explainin’, we don’t have all day t’be sittin’ here waitin’ for you.” The death glare that Lon’qu gave him for what he said was fitting, given that he was being a bit impatient with whatever it was that was happening, but there had been a lot that had happened there in a short amount of time and he knew they should’ve been leaving soon. “C’mon, don’t look at me like that, I’m just tryin’ t’move this along so we can go home.”

“If you’re in a hurry to go, we can always do this another time.” Already reaching to pick the paper up so it didn’t get taken by the wrong person at the wrong time again, Lon’qu was kindly told to stop being so rude, especially as it had been his idea to bring this particular thing up right there. “What am I supposed to do, if they want to leave I’m not going to stop them with something they’re going to complain about immediately after receiving it?”

Without blinking at how he was acting, Panne told him off exactly as she needed to. “It has been your idea to do this for them for months now, you’re the one who came up with this plan and decided to do it right now. Either own up to what you’re going to do or never bring it up again.”

“I suppose you’re right,” he said after a few moments of looking at how everyone was staring at him, waiting for his next move. “I just…it was a rather foolish decision now that I’ve thought more about it, but I remember how much a certain someone has always talked about something hanging on the wall here and—”

“You’re joking, you’re not actually thinking about getting us one of _those_ , are you?” Her face contorting in disgust as she picked up on what was being said, Maribelle caught the same glare her husband had received before and apologized for speaking out of turn under her breath in order to get it to stop.

“—after we had to customize ours to add Yarne’s name to it I may have asked for information to order another one for some friends, so yes, I suppose I am thinking about getting the two of you a banner for your wall. Right now it would just be for the two of you and your names, but in the future it would be added to.” He slammed his hand down on the paper that was still on the table in front of him, startling the present children and almost starting a second round of crying amongst all of them. “If you don’t want to go through with this I understand, but it’s been something that I know someone here has wanted for years.”

Despite already having had to apologize for talking over Lon’qu, Maribelle was now ready to fight with his idea to the death. “I appreciate the kind thoughts, but you know what getting that for us means, right? Both our names, hanging high and proud on the wall for everyone to see? What do you do when neither of us go by our proper first names, hm?”

“We put your proper names on it anyway,” Lon’qu replied flatly, before giving a second choice that was very clearly the one they were meant to take. “Or we put what the two of you want to see on there, if anything at all. If you choose to not want this we understand, but after how interested in it a certain someone was…”

“Lon’qu, why are you pretending they have a choice in what gets put on the banner?” Panne asked, her eyes closing as she sweetly smiled at him. “You’re forgetting that we’re the ones purchasing it for them, the only say they get is in is if Maribelle has both her last names or just the legal one.”

“I’m not agreeing to that, sorry.” Shaking her head, Maribelle wanted to say more about how she felt about what she’d just heard but she was stopped by a hand being placed over her mouth, causing her to turn her head to see Vaike looking at her with a growing grin. She pulled his hand off of her, not believing how okay with this idea that he was, and said, “There’s no way, we aren’t doing this, it’s a nice gesture but I’m not letting them do it.”

“Mari, listen t’me, I know that us both goin’ by our real names is never a fun time, but this is somethin’ that we can hang with pride in our house, so everyone who comes t’visit can see that it’s our family home and that we love each other enough t’hang our real names up!” Moving that hand to her shoulder to still be holding onto her as he spoke, even though without it being on her mouth it meant that she could fight back whenever she wanted, Vaike continued getting his thoughts out as best as he could. “I know things ain’t always been the greatest between us, but we’ve gotta own up t’who we actually are every once in a while, not just whenever someone higher up than us calls us the names we were given.”’

Across the table, trying her hardest not to crack as she maintained the same expression she’d been giving Lon’qu since she last spoke, Panne was audibly having difficulty restraining herself from chuckling. “When you refer to media and law officials in that manner, all I can think of is the incident with the news reporters after the fire,” she managed to say in a relatively steady voice, before the real chuckles started. “For all of the bad things that happened in that one day, at least there was one amusing aspect to it all. Wouldn’t you agree with me, either one of you?”

“Y’know what, maybe us doin’ this isn’t a good idea after all, seein’ as it’s been close to two years and she still hasn’t gotten over findin’ out my name.” His grip on Maribelle’s shoulder tightening as he looked over at Panne and her chuckles that were strong enough to make her shake, Vaike wanted to commit to what he’d just said about not doing it. He wanted to turn to Lon’qu and thank him for the offer but concede that Maribelle’s apprehensions about it all were best and that they didn’t need a family banner in their lives.

Also seeing this, and knowing that there was limited time before a final decision would most likely be made, Maribelle jumped back into the conversation with a new viewpoint, something that she’d been thinking about but hadn’t wanted to say in case she went too far with it. “No, I believe that if we’re going to do this, it’s only fitting that we have to use our real names for it, it’ll acclimate everyone to the fact that you don’t go by your first name and that I go by my first and middle. My one hang-up is on the part about the last names, as even though I legally don’t use my maiden name it’s my professional one, and Vaike…well, we know that that’s what he goes by. Let us do this with the name we were born with, and that way after we add to it, that can show the blending of our little family.”

“Are ya sure ‘bout that? I mean, you’re pretty particular ‘bout almost anyone callin’ ya Mari, wouldn’t hangin’ that up where everyone can see it just make them think they can start doin’ that?” Vaike asked, looking at Maribelle with raised eyebrows. “I’m not entirely sure you’re thinkin’ this through very well.”

“Someone calling me Mari has never bothered me as much as someone calling you Brayden has,” she told him, seeing him flinch at the sound of his name, as well as hearing Panne finally break out into loud laughter at what was happening. “But if you’re fine with wearing that name as a badge, I’m fine with wearing mine the same way.”

After locking eyes and telling through the seriousness they were both sharing through them, they gave each other a silent nod and turned their attention back towards Lon’qu, who’d been listening the entire time and was reading over the paper in front of him. “If you’ve decided what you’re going to do, we can start filling this form out to get this thing made then, if we’re lucky it’ll be done by the turn of the year and then it can go in for editing whenever you need it to.”

The next half hour was spent going through the entire form, picking out exactly how they wanted their names to look on the banner that was being gifted to them. Once the paperwork part was finished Lon’qu promised to send it in as soon as he could, but did remind them once again that it wouldn’t be an instant thing they’d receive. With how much else they were having to look forward to, it was just something else to add to the list—and somehow they’d managed to get through that conversation without Maribelle ruining the one thing she had left to keep secret.

* * *

By the twenty-ninth of the following month, Maribelle had cut back her time at work to a handful of hours a week, just long enough to do a bit of organizing other people’s cases but not get wrapped up in anything of her own anymore. She didn’t care for being relatively useless while she was there, but she knew that she couldn’t allow for herself to get too stressed out, nor could she be running around town trying to meet with different clients at all sorts of different places. Her doctor had basically put her on a watchlist to make sure that she wasn’t endangering herself or her child, with check-ups every two weeks despite not actually needing them to be so frequent, and if she were caught acting out of line and something were to present itself at an appointment, there would have been serious consequences she’d then face.

Even though she was trying her best to rest most of the time and keep her workload light, as the end of the year approached she was given the news that she was still not doing enough to keep things acceptable. “I get that you’re a busy, important woman,” her doctor said during one of those extra appointments, looking at a chart of numbers compiled from the past weeks’ visits, “but there’s a fine line between ‘you being busy’ and ‘someone actively dying’ and you’re straddling it at this point.”

“I’m not even busy anymore, honestly! I’ve stopped working almost entirely, I’m spending a lot of time at home or doing pleasant things outdoors until the weather gets nasty, I don’t know what else I’m supposed to give up now!” Her heartbeat starting to race as she faced this doctor, who wanted what was best for her but wasn’t being clear about what that meant, Maribelle wished that she hadn’t chosen to come to the appointment alone, but she hadn’t had a choice in that matter. Everyone she would’ve brought with her was either at work or was unavailable for personal reasons, and she wasn’t going to ask her husband to stop going and making money to come hear how bad everything was going. “Whatever’s wrong, is there any way to fix it that isn’t forcing me to sit around all day?”

“If there was nothing more to it than a bit of strangeness in your vitals, I’d say that you could make some small changes to your lifestyle and you’d possibly make a difference, but that wouldn’t fix the fact that the baby seems to not be getting everything it needs in there.” The doctor tapped a couple of things on her pad of paper, which Maribelle assumed were related to what had just been said. “Based on everything we’ve done so far, especially given your previous child loss and the fact that you came into this immediately with a raised blood pressure level that has only managed to get higher despite changes you’ve already made, I can’t help but think that the problems here may be within the child itself.”

“And if it’s my baby that’s got something wrong with them, there’s nothing that can be done?” she asked, the worst case scenario coming to her mind, which involved losing the baby she already loved so much. The shake of the head she received was reassuring for a moment, but opened the door for other questions. “What’s going on then, if you think it’s treatable even though it’s not me it’s a problem with?”

“Patience, you’re already working yourself up again and that’s only going to create more issues for you. We’re going to run some tests to confirm what I’m hypothesizing, and from there we’ll come up with a plan for what you need to do.” That led to an extended stay there with the doctor, with all the different ways she wanted to examine her before making her conclusion, but when everything was done and able to be pieced together there was one answer that jumped out at them: there seemed to be some amount of detachment with the placenta, and that was causing for the child to not be receiving as much oxygen and nutrients as it needed.

“So this means I’ve got to give everything up and just be super careful, doesn’t it?” With the most plausible possibility now spelled out for her, Maribelle wanted to make sure that she was going to not keep making things worse with her desire to still be doing things. “I can do that if I have to, I’ll miss working and I’ll miss being active but if it means keeping my baby alive it’ll be what I have to do.”

“Limiting your physical activity may be a good solution at times, but you don’t want to completely shut yourself down to everything. You need to keep active, but light walks are about as strenuous as you want to go.” That was when the doctor flipped around her charts and started talking as she pointed to different things that she’d noted. “As it stands, you’re measuring much smaller than you should be right now, which is a large part of why this conclusion makes the most sense to me. Add in the fact that you’re still struggling with some of the more notable textbook traits of toxemia and I—”

“We’ve gone over what that is before, I know we have, but before you keep talking, can I ask something?” Maribelle had cut off the doctor and felt minimally bad about it, but she wanted to get her question out before it escaped her completely. “Why don’t we just find some way to make this all go away without me having to sacrifice everything I have going on? Can’t we do that?”

“—if we could, we’d do it in a heartbeat. Medication’s possible, but you’ve already tried the safest routes there to no effect, and we’re not going to put you under twenty-four hour care when you’re still in your second trimester.” Pausing to collect her thoughts, the doctor turned to face a calendar that was up on the wall, one that had the entirety of the next year visible on it. “Here’s what we’ll do, we’re going to aim for the end of February as our hopeful end to all of this. The only real way to cure toxemia is to deliver the child, and by then we’ll be past them being extremely premature yet just outside the window of being able to be considered being to term. It’s easier to look forward to the end of a month than somewhere in the middle of it, don’t you think?”

Nodding, Maribelle tried looking at the calendar for herself but couldn’t quite see the dates. However she was completely aware that it meant that she was going to have to suffer through everything for three more months before everything would come to an end, and she wasn’t thrilled with that prospect. “So I have to be careful until the end of February, sounds easy enough,” she said in an attempt to reassure herself that she could do it. “After that, if this little one’s still in there they’ll be fine, and before that if they have to come out, what does that mean?”

“It means that they’ll most likely have a few scattered issues but hopefully nothing too bad. What we’re aiming for, though, is you both being perfectly healthy at the end of this all, so please don’t focus on anything negative.” From there they put together a rough plan of how the next three months were going to go, with every appointment between then and that goal date set in stone at that moment. The reminder that she needed to stop driving herself to the appointments was given, which she told herself she was going to ignore until she was presented with the warning that driving could be just as dangerous as doing something strenuous. The last thing that was said during the appointment was that she really did need to put herself first for the moment, to give up everything that wasn’t about her and come back to it once she wasn’t having to fight for a second life inside of her.

On the ride home she found herself crying about how stressed all of this was starting to make her feel, and the fact that she was stressing out was just adding to all of the other problems that she had. “How am I going to manage to make this work?” she asked herself as she sat at a light, feeling tears start to form but not wanting to let them cascade down her cheeks while she didn’t need the distraction. “I’m going to drive myself crazy if I’m sitting at home all day, every day, for three months!”

What ended up happening was not what she’d expected, and she was fairly certain that it wasn’t in line with what the doctor wanted her to be doing, but it was much better than sitting at home doing nothing. On days when it was possible, she’d get picked up by someone that wasn’t doing anything and taken out to do things with them, whether it was going to the mall and walking around there, escorting kids to indoor playgrounds and watching them from the side, or sitting in various offices and just being company to someone as they worked. Her personal favorite activity was when she’d get picked up and taken out for a nice meal with someone’s family, because one of the things she had been told she needed to do was try to put on a bit more weight to see if that helped with any of the size issues, and when she’d be having horrible headaches or when she’d be working she couldn’t exactly eat a whole bunch at once.

A couple of weeks later and she was getting scolded by her doctor that, even though she was now not working at all she was still in the same bad place as she had been when they’d worked out their rough plan. The end of February was still the goal, but as the doctor warned, it wasn’t going to be easy to get there if nothing actually seemed to be changing in her day-to-day life, even if it technically was.

Along for the ride on that appointment had been Lissa, easily the most damaging of the people who’d been trying to help as she was quickest to suggest going out and doing something that Maribelle really shouldn’t have been doing, and after hearing the grim reality of everything her eyes were opened to what they now needed to do. “I can’t believe I’m going to tell you this, but maybe once New Year’s comes around you should just lock yourself up in your room and not leave unless it’s to come here,” she suggested when the doctor had stepped out of the room for a minute to check on something, her words sounding like she was forcing herself to say them. “That gives you a little bit more fun time before you crack down and get serious for, like, two months at least.”

“You know, if I get caught not taking these warnings to heart any longer I’m going to get chewed out harder when all the tests come back exactly the same.” Rolling her eyes at how Lissa seemed to be trying to make light of a rather dark situation, Maribelle had a moment of realization when she saw how her friend was still smiling at her, motioning towards the child seat on the floor next to her. While she knew that Lissa hadn’t had any issues of this sort before, she also knew that she was a valuable source when it came to personal experience about things related to children, and if she thought it would work out to be lax for a little bit longer before shaping up and focusing entirely on doing nothing, it had to work. “I cannot believe you’ve just used Emersyn as a reason for me to listen to you,” she muttered, seeing the smile on Lissa’s face grow. “You’re a monster.”

“Whatever, you know that you’ll love when you can’t do anything except sit in bed and I bring her over to spend time with you, but we’ve got to make sure we do everything you have left to do before we get to that point.” That was where things grew complicated, as Maribelle wasn’t entirely sure what Lissa was referring to there, with needing to do anything. As far as she was aware, all of the shopping was going to be taken care of by hand-me-downs as well as the inevitable baby shower that they were planning for in the new year, and now that she wasn’t working there wasn’t really anything else she did outside of the home minus spending time with friends.

Even with Lissa’s assurance that everything would be fine if she waited a few more weeks to get into the “nothing but appointments outside the home” routine, Maribelle was still unsure of if it was the right thing to do. But she loved getting to go out and do things, especially when people would come up with long lists of tasks she needed to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time, and she ended up spending way more time and energy outside of the home than she ever should have.

This came to haunt her in ways that weren’t just her doctor being upset with her, because when she came into her last appointment of the year she was suffering from much more than just the occasional pounding headache. Her whole body was out of sorts, her hands and feet having become swollen to the point that walking much more than around the house was impossible and there was little she could do with fingers that were stiff and difficult to manage. “I suppose you never looked up some of the other possible symptoms of toxemia any time I’ve brought it up, did you?” the doctor asked, clicking her tongue in disappointment as she looked at the downright miserable woman sitting in her exam room with her. “You’re lucky you haven’t died yet at this rate, if we’re being quite honest, but we’ll take the positives where we have them. The baby’s fine, you’ll be able to get back to fine if you just listen to what you’re told, nothing’s unfixable yet.”

“Trust me, I’m going to go home and not leave again until I’m having to come back here,” she replied, looking down at her hands and seeing the unzipped front of her jacket beneath them, her fingers unable to grasp the zipper well enough to attempt closing it in the first place (and even then, she was fairly certain it wouldn’t have closed if she’d tried). “I’m going to make sure that all of this goes away and I’m able to at least have a somewhat positive end of my time being pregnant.”

The clicking continued, with the doctor explaining then that based on certain risk factors and the obvious fact that there wasn’t a miracle cure to undo everything that had gone wrong, there’d have to be a lot of follow-up visits to the office from there on, so that she could be monitored and medicated as needed. “I know we’ve been trying to go a more natural, vitamins and necessary supplements, route with you, since the initial round of medication didn’t do anything notable, but at this point there isn’t much of a choice but to bring out the stronger, more effective medicines. If those don’t work, then we’re left in a sticky place but we aren’t going to think about that. You’ll be here again later this week for the first round of many, and we’ll be aiming for twice to three times a week until everything’s settled down, got it?”

 “I suppose I don’t have much of a choice, and I’m not going to argue with the authority on this sort of thing. Later this week it is.” Maribelle knew that none of this would have gotten to the point it was currently at if she’d just listened to the doctor in the first place, but there wasn’t any way to take back what had already happened. As it stood, she and the baby were both still alive and as long as that was how they ended, that was what mattered. She was escorted out of the room and back to the lobby, where the person waiting for her was in the middle of reading a book, his daughter sitting next to him with a pen and paper on her lap.

She awkwardly cleared her throat to get their attention, and she received a raised hand telling her to stop. “I’m almost done with this chapter then we can go, I don’t know why I’d never thought crime novels would be interesting before now but there’s a time and a place to learn everything, it seems.” Flipping the page as he lowered his hand, Gaius did not seem like he was going to move a muscle until his chapter was finished.

Noire, also hearing the forced cough, looked up at Maribelle with shining eyes and got up from her seat so that they could swap. “I’m writing a letter,” she explained as Maribelle sat down, allowing for her to stand in front of her and hold the paper up, showing the somewhat-legible scribbles that were on it. “It’s for the baby, if that’s okay! I want to tell about my shows!”

“Your…shows,” Maribelle repeated, looking a bit closer at the scribbles on the page to realize that she could piece together that they were, in fact, about some of the things she’d heard blasting through the house at times. “Well, I suppose that’ll be fine, especially since I’m sure the poor thing will be forced to watch them alongside you soon enough. Just make sure that you don’t ruin the shows for whoever has to read the letter to the baby.”

“The shows are way old, they can’t be ruined.” Just like that, Noire seemed to have soured her mood and she dropped to the floor, throwing her paper down and resuming her attempt at writing without another word. Soon enough, Gaius closed his book and said it was time to leave, and she packed up then as Maribelle slowly made it to her feet, which were shoved into shoes that weren’t her own and were still too small for her. Riding home was fun, especially with needing to direct Gaius the whole way as he’d just recently gotten his license back and hadn’t been doing too much driving of his own.

That night, everyone living at the house found themselves gathered around the computer, Noire having taken control of what they were going to watch. “I may have made a mistake earlier, which led us to having to suffer through this,” Maribelle said as they watched the little girl move her way through menus on less-than-legal viewing websites to try and find what she was looking for. “I said for her to not ruin her shows for anyone, she said it wasn’t possible, and now we’re having to watch them with her.”

“I’m pretty sure that watching something with Noire isn’t anything close to suffering, it’s good family bonding time. Even though, of course, we’re not all actually family here.” What Gaius was speaking in reference to was the newly-installed banner on the wall, which he hadn’t known was coming until it was being hung a few days before. “She’s just trying to get everyone here to like what she likes, no big deal.”

“Yeah, and every show she’s been makin’ us watch so far hasn’t been all that bad, I don’t know why ya’d think that’d suddenly change.” Having his arms wrapped around Maribelle as they sat together in the same chair, not really comfortable but the closeness of it all being worth it, Vaike smiled when he saw the last page Noire ended up on before she selected something for them to watch. “Look, she’s even havin’ us watch ol’ classics, not any reboots or anythin’ like that! How could ya call this sufferin’?”

“Perhaps I assumed that she’d be picking something more modern to talk about in her finely-worded letter,” she suggested, snuggling herself back into the man half-sitting beneath her. “You’d understand better if you were there, but you had to work and there was nothing that could change that.”

He nodded, giving a long sigh after she’d finished repositioning herself on top of him. “Ya know I’d do anythin’ t’be able t’go with ya to more ‘a those appointments, but someone ‘round here’s gotta have a job, and it clearly ain’t gonna be you.”

“I wish it wasn’t the person prone to workplace injuries, but we can’t exactly ask Gaius to support us both, now can we?” At mentioning Gaius, they both looked towards him, and he was shaking his head at them until they’d looked away and back to the screen. “By chance, have you fallen off any more ladders lately? If you were making enough money to keep living here when you were out of work for falling off one once, perhaps—”

“Ya couldn’t pay me enough to get me t’fall off like that again, sorry Mari.”

“—yes, well, I figured that you getting reimbursement money and being stuck here at home with me would benefit us both.” It had occurred to Maribelle somewhere in the middle of what she was saying that she didn’t actually know too much about the incident that had resulted in Vaike being out of work for an extended period of time and giving him a bit of a permanent limp. The only thing she did clearly remember about it all was her behavior towards him in the immediate aftermath, and thinking about that in what should have been a warm and happy time felt wrong. “But no matter, things happen how they’re meant to, and maybe that means we’ll find a different way to get you home with me.”

“Can you please stop so we can watch?” Noire loudly asked, her pointer hovering over the play button on the episode of the show she’d picked out. “We have to watch this, for the baby and for me too!” Without waiting for an answer she went ahead and clicked it, and the sound of the show came through the speakers at full volume, rattling the computer but not bothering any of the people who spent almost every night doing this at least once.

For Maribelle, however, the process of sitting and watching an old cartoon was rather boring and she could find little enjoyment in it. Her idea of fun was being out with friends, sitting around kitchen tables talking gossip, walking around the mall and seeing what new stores were opening soon, doing something that felt like it had a productive element to it. She couldn’t see herself doing this sort of thing as a regular activity, not when she’d spent so much of her time in the past doing things she enjoyed. Even when everyone else was getting into the show, calling out the predictable twists and laughing about the rather mediocre animation quirks, she couldn’t bring herself to do the same. She ended up pulling Vaike’s arms from around her so that she could get up, her feet unsteady as they were mostly numb and still very much swollen. Where she was going to go, she wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t going to spend more of her time there at the computer if she didn’t have to.

What she ended up doing was locking herself in the bathroom, turning the water on for a nice bath, and then sitting in the tub for what felt like forever, crying her eyes out about how much she hated what had happened to her. For having wanted to start a family so badly that she grew to resent her husband because he didn’t see things the same way she did, now that she had gotten what she wanted she wasn’t enjoying it at all. How was it that when Lissa did it, she was able to go through everything with no issues whatsoever, but every time Maribelle had even considered getting pregnant everything had decided it was going to go wrong? All she wanted was to have a family of her own, and even now when she was on the way to doing just that it felt like everything was going to fall apart at any time.

By the time someone tried to check on her, her eyes were bright red from the tears, her eyelids and cheeks slightly puffy with broken blood vessels to show that she’d been forcefully crying in there. One of her hands had been holding her hair up so that the ends of it didn’t get into the water, her not wanting to deal with the process of drying her hair once she was done, while the other had been tracing every mark it could touch, from the tattooed hearts on her back to most of the many stretch marks she’d acquired over time, not just the ones that she now tried to wear with pride because they were proof she was growing a child inside her. With everything her fingers brushed against she would cry more, which only added to the problem, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop.

No amount of knocking on the door asking her if she was okay was going to stop her either, especially since she’d locked that door and she wasn’t going to get up out of the tub until she had to. She could hear the pleading on the other side, begging her to stop whatever she was doing and open the door, but it was for nothing; aside from someone calling that there was a fire in the house, she was not going to stumble out of the tub to acknowledge that she was wanted outside of the bathroom. There was so much running through her mind, so much that she needed to accept and move past before she finished with her alone time, that she could foresee a couple refills of the tub water in her future.

It must have been two hours minimum that she spent in there, and when she finally did get out and unlock the door the majority of her body felt water-logged and heavier than it already did, but she didn’t care at that point. She just wanted to get into her pajamas and go crawl into bed, skipping dinner and any sort of social interaction just because of how deep in her own misery she was. Since it had been so long since there had been an attempt to get her to leave the tub, there wasn’t anyone actively waiting for her outside of the bathroom when she opened the door, so she was able to go down to the bedroom without facing a million questions about what she’d been doing, but because of how relatively slow she was moving she did find it weird that no one had noticed she’d left once she had.

That was because they were all waiting for her in the bedroom, the computer having been moved into the room so that they could be sitting in there and continuing with what they were watching. “I cannot believe you guys, you’re not letting me get away from you easily and I don’t think I like it,” she said, giving them all a look of disgust, but no one got more of the glare than Vaike did, him shrugging with a smile when he saw her reaction. “What’s next, you’re going to tell me that you’re forcing me to watch something with you?”

“No, we just wanted t’make sure we knew when ya got done with what ya were doin’, since it seemed to be pretty important t’ya. But now that you’re here, I guess we can call it a night on group show watchin’,” Vaike replied, much to Maribelle’s joy and the dismay of the other two. Their disappointment became more obvious when they had to leave the computer in the room rather than taking it out with them to the other bedroom or even back to the living room, and that was because Vaike seemed to want it for himself. “I don’t want ya thinkin’ it’s bedtime quite yet, there’s somethin’ I wanna show ya before ya tuck yourself in and sleep t’ignore everythin’ around ya.”

“Please, if it’s just you in here I’ll force myself to stay awake a bit longer.” Carefully climbing up into the bed so that she didn’t manage to hurt herself by doing so, Maribelle found herself being hugged once more by her husband, this time with only one arm as his other hand was typing something in on his computer. “I don’t have the slightest clue what you’re going to show me and honestly, knowing you, it could be nearly anything, so could you make sure that we go through this quickly?”

“I’ll take as much time with this as I need to, but I promise that it’s somethin’ that you’ll want t’see after everythin’ that’s been goin’ on lately.” He did have to pull his arm away so he could use both hands for typing to speed things up, but once he’d found whatever it was he was looking for, he went right back to hugging her with one arm as he turned his computer so that she could see what was on the screen. “Came across this a few days ago when lookin’ for somethin’ completely unrelated and thought that maybe you’d get a kick outta it.”

It took a few moments for Maribelle to really focus in on what she was being shown, but when she recognized the very young people in the photos on the screen she elbowed him hard in the side. “Gods, how far back into school records did you have to go to find this stuff? That’s us _before_ we were dating!” She was staring at a picture of her in one of her first years of high school, she couldn’t tell which one it was, but she was able to narrow it down to those two because he was in the pictures as well. “We were so stupidly in love with so many things that weren’t each other, and even when we realized that we were meant to be it took us way too long to get around to making it official!”

“Honestly I was lookin’ into somethin’ ‘bout the school for work purposes and findin’ this was just an added bonus, especially since it meant I got t’see the Maribelle I first fell in love with, when she was so little and bossy and didn’t know what she’d grow up t’become.” Pushing his computer closer to her so she could see them better and move around the page as needed, Vaike took the opportunity to cover a fair amount of Maribelle’s exposed skin with kisses, choosing to spend as little time kissing her face as he could in favor of the places that maybe needed a bit more love. While he was doing that, she was doing as he expected and was looking at other pictures that were on the page, which weren’t of them but did include other people that they still knew.

She did end up back on the pictures of them both together, before they’d even thought about getting together or thought of each other as anything more than friends. Her hair was so obviously fake in the picture, fake and damaged by whatever dumb fad tool she’d been using on it at the time, and her clothes were screaming to her that she’d just forced her parents to take her shopping at one of the cool kid stores at the mall. As for him, he looked every part of being just a normal slacker guy in school, dressed in the bare minimum to meet what the school asked for. How she’d managed to fall head over heels in love with someone like that, she’d never fully understand, but she was happy to see that even though the picture she was looking at was from probably fifteen years before, scanned in for preservation in the digital age, there was proof that they had always been meant for each other.

“You know what, this is the sort of thing we should show Chrom the next chance we get,” she said after going down to one of the other pictures, which was a group shot of people that had been in athletics during that particular school year. “He’d enjoy seeing his young self living his best life, before he’d gotten married and taken on being important in society.”

“I’m sure he would, but he ain’t the point ‘a me showin’ ya this. I just wanted ya t’know that we’ve grown up and gone through so much since that was taken, but we’re still here for each other.” Reaching to close the computer so it wouldn’t remain a distraction, Vaike looked deep into Maribelle’s eyes once she didn’t have anything else to look at instead. “I don’t care how cheesy sayin’ it is, I love ya t’the moon and back, and maybe even more than that! I loved ya when ya looked like that, I love ya now, and I’ll love ya years from now too, nothin’s gonna change a thing ‘bout any ‘a that!”

Stunned by the power behind his words, Maribelle took a second to thank the stars that everything had managed to work itself out to have them in the exact position they were currently in. Yes, a lot had gone wrong on the way to where they were, and a lot more was going on as they sat there, but for everything bad that had happened to them a million good things had happened as well. “I love you too, no matter what,” she said quietly, before biting her lip in a cute, not thoughtful, manner. “I just wish there was some other way I could tell you that, after everything I did to you. The words don’t feel strong enough.”

“Trust me, there’s some other way you’re tellin’ me it right now, without havin’ t’say a thing, and I’m not gonna ask ya for anythin’ more than that.” This time, when he went to kiss her, it wasn’t an exposed area he kissed but rather part of the curve of her stomach, his lips lingering on it for the better part of a minute before he pulled away, seeing her tearing up at his gesture. “Oh, c’mon now, that wasn’t that great. Hadn’t really thought it through before goin’ through with it.”

She placed a hand exactly where he’d been kissing moments before and smiled, tears trickling down her cheeks as her eyes crinkled in the corners. “I’m blown away by it still, don’t you worry,” she reassured him, “and I’m sure our child is too. There’s no greater love than what we both feel for them right now, and I suppose they are the best way I can show you that I love you…”

It was more of a tender moment than what she’d expected she’d have that night, but it was enough to get her through the next day despite it being the beginning of her forced time spent at home. That was especially true because she knew that she could get another moment like it that next night, and the next one, and the one after that—she could easily make her way to the golden day at the end of February if she had something loving to be waiting for every day.

* * *

Having told everyone that the goal was to make it not even right up to the due date, but over a month before it, Maribelle was surprised when someone pointed out that there were twenty-nine days that February, meaning that once again, that was the number they were trying to make it towards. Not wanting to say that it must’ve become an important number in her life when she was told that, she merely played it off as if she’d already known that fact and went on with her day, even though she was mentally hung up on it. No one needed to know that she was beginning to toy with the idea of having a personal lucky number, not when they knew her stance on luck itself.

That January went by faster than she thought possible, as she’d spent the month in the past many years in the midst of her busy season with cases at work and that normally made things fly by. The idea of being trapped in her own house at almost all hours making for speedy time passing was absurd at best, yet she found herself living that reality, thanks to the giant support network she’d acquired over the years. Every day it seemed to be a different person coming to visit, outside of the usual suspects who were coming over as often as they could manage. There were some constants every day, like Noire coming in after she’d get home from school and turning on some episode of the show she was currently fixated on so that they could watch together, or Lissa bringing by one or both of her children for a little bit of personal time spent with them, but outside of them it was a revolving door of who was going to show up.

The best days were the ones where Panne, Lon’qu, and Yarne would come by, the boy crawling around on the floors while his parents spoke with Maribelle about various things, usually relating back to what she would’ve been doing if she were able to work. Her taste of legal messes was added to whenever Miriel would stop by, sometimes bringing children from the shelter with her, but oftentimes only bringing her adopted son along. As Maribelle vividly remembered how invested she’d been in the child’s story when he’d first been abandoned after birth, it was great to see that he’d gotten a chance to grow up with loving parents in a wonderful place, and having him come visit her felt like it was bringing his whole story full-circle.

Between all of them, she was able to keep fairly decent tabs on what was happening in her preferred field of work, and she couldn’t wait until she could go back to doing what she loved. That time would have to come way later that year, if at all, and she was going to have to keep living her legal dreams through her friends and their stories of what they’d been hearing with where they themselves worked. On days when it wasn’t possible for any of them to come over, it didn’t mean that there wasn’t any chance for her to hear stories of people getting involved in legal issues; those days typically ended up being when actual police officers would come to visit, and sometimes they’d bring with them stories of arrests that were done because of children being involved.

That wasn’t always the case, though, because Sully and Virion did seem to show up frequently enough just to bring Kjelle by, so that Maribelle could watch her while they went out and did things together. If that were the case, they were usually being accompanied by at least one other person, or they were coming to try and drag Vaike out with them, and they needed someone they could trust to watch their daughter for them. While Maribelle wasn’t going to be the best for running around the house trying to keep track of a one-year-old, that was where her good buddy Noire became rather helpful, because she was really good at tracking down small children and dragging them back to where they needed to be.

It wasn’t just Kjelle that would get dropped off for some free babysitting (as well as a free crash-course in taking care of children for Maribelle), because it seemed that nearly everyone who was taking time out of their week to visit did it at least once. At one point, with only herself and Noire there to watch everyone as the men were both out for the night, Maribelle was left in charge of Owain and Emersyn, as well as Yarne, Kjelle, and later in the evening Stahl brought over his son Inigo so that he and his dear Olivia could go out to join everyone else where they were. Knowing that the two of them couldn’t watch four small children and one that was closer in age to Noire than the others, Maribelle made the choice to call someone and add to the mess that was brewing under her roof.

On one hand, it was helpful that Sumia decided she would come and stay there until all of the kids were picked up by their parents, but on the other it wasn’t quite fair when she brought Lucina and Cynthia with her, meaning two more children to keep in mind. “Lucina’s old enough to be more helpful than harmful,” Sumia did say once they’d shown up, her younger daughter making a beeline for all of the other kids while the older one hung back, wanting to stay near the adults than anything else. “If we need her to, she’s got plenty of experience wrangling young kids so we can count on her to do that.”

“Please, I wouldn’t—I can’t—I’m only here because Father isn’t home and I’m not allowed to be there by myself,” Lucina replied, getting flustered at her mother’s insistence on what she could do. “I’m just going to sit and watch everyone, I am not wrangling anyone no matter how much you need it!”

“She’ll do it, she’s just saying that to sound like she has a choice.” Waving her daughter off as she walked away, Sumia realized that they were standing in the doorway, and not just that, but that Maribelle was standing there with her. “Ahem, I can’t say I’m the most aware of what’s going on in your life, but I’m fairly certain standing up isn’t something you should be doing. Get to sitting somewhere, you’ve got people here to help you now!”’

“It only took you long enough to see what I was doing,” Maribelle said with a soft laugh as she walked to one of the chairs in the room, stacked high with pillows and blankets to make it clear that was where she was spending a lot of her time. “I hate this feeling of being lazy all day, but at least if I’m out here it feels better than when I’m just laying in bed. Do you know how horrible it is to be trapped in the bedroom all day?”

Shaking her head, Sumia didn’t follow Maribelle as she went to her chair, but instead went to look around the house a bit more, specifically to find where all of the other kids that were supposedly there were. “Can’t say I’ve ever had to be bedridden for more than a day or two, so sorry about that. But I do get you on wanting to be out in a main room instead of a bedroom, you don’t get to see anything if you’re not right in the middle of where everyone goes! Speaking of everyone, where did _they_ go?”

“They’re in the bedroom, Noire’s got her whole computer set-up in there and last I heard, she was making the little kids watch some videos she’d watched with her dad a few days ago.” There was a pause, as Maribelle looked down to the side of her chair, where Emersyn had a blanket laid out but she was nowhere in sight. “Oh, but if you want to go check on them in there, I think one or two of them came and grabbed Emersyn while I wasn’t paying attention, and they like trying to play with her like she’s a doll.”

Blinking as she made sure she understood what she’d just heard, Sumia began to make her way towards the bedroom where, once she was a bit away from the front door, she could hear all sorts of noises and voices coming from. In her absence, Maribelle reclined herself back in her chair and looked towards the ceiling, sighing as she did. Everything happened all at once with these people, and the only thing that would have made it worse would’ve been if Cordelia had shown up at the front door with Severa in tow, asking if she could leave her there for a little bit. At least she knew that wasn’t going to happen, as she’d been reminded a time or two that day that it was Severa’s birthday and that she needed to give her a birthday wish since going to get a proper present was out of the question.

“I wonder if there’ll be anyone who loves my baby so much that they remind others that it’s their birthday,” she mused, resting her hand on her stomach before moving across it, not feeling anything underneath the palm of her hand as she did. “I can’t wait until we get to meet you, little one, you’re so wanted and so loved already that we’ll all be reminding each other for weeks that your birthday’s coming up.”

The lack of movement she felt was disheartening, but it wasn’t the middle of the night so she hadn’t been expecting to feel much at all. The baby loved staying relatively still during the daytime, making proving to others that they were still alive and well rather difficult, but as long as Maribelle knew that she could feel movements at inopportune times, that was really all that mattered. But she’d gotten so wrapped up in talking to herself and her baby that she hadn’t noticed that one of the younger kids had wandered into the room, sneaking up behind her chair and shaking it as hard as they could manage. She screamed, nearly jumping to her feet but somehow managing to keep herself seated, as the culprit poked his head around the chair to laugh at her. “You yell really loud,” Owain said between gasping laughs, his hands covering his face as Maribelle glared down at him. “Mama said you do, and you did!”

“Owain, it’s not nice to scare people like that,” Lucina scolded, having come to see what the commotion was about when she heard Maribelle’s screaming. “Especially not someone as nice to all of us as miss Maribelle is, you could’ve really hurt her or the baby by making her scream like you did.”

“Nuh-uh, she’s okay.” Dropping his hands so that he could indignantly cross his arms over his chest, Owain looked every bit as serious as his father did whenever he was scolding someone for something, but he had a twinkle in his eye that was definitely something he’d inherited from his mother.

It didn’t deter Lucina from chewing him out further, though. “I know she looks okay, but I also know miss Maribelle can’t be going through things like that, it’s bad for the baby. That’s what Mother said on the way here, anyway. So go back to playing with your friends and leave her alone.”

“You don’t need to defend me against your cousin, I know how to handle him.” Miming kissing someone on their head, something that she knew Owain always hated having done to him by non-family, Maribelle watched the boy go back to where all of the other children were before she turned towards Lucina, who was running a hand through her hair to make sure it wasn’t knotted or tangled. “You can go back to what you were doing before this, I’ll be fine sitting here alone, especially since your mother’s in the other room taking care of that disaster. Why everyone decided tonight was the night to bring their kids over, I don’t know, but it shouldn’t have happened.”

“Don’t worry, I know Mother wants to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you again, so she’ll be keeping an ear out for more things like whatever happened to force everyone out tonight.” Lucina’s eyes shifted towards the floor, where she stared at her feet for a few moments before shrugging. “I don’t get why adults like going out so much, Father said he was going out with friends and I guess everyone else went too. And they stuck you with watching everyone else.”

“Your mother’s a great woman, she was more than happy to help me when she found out what was going on. I think that as long as she’s watching out for me, everything’ll work out fine around here.” Even though Maribelle knew she was talking about things in terms of babysitting, she had hopes that Sumia’s positive involvement would bring about good things for other, relevant pieces of her life; she wasn’t going to go out and say that Sumia was the greatest person alive but she was just kindhearted enough that it felt like she was pretty close to the best around. To have her around to help out whenever needed was just what Maribelle found herself needing in that moment, and over the following couple of weeks she did call on her to come help her with watching kids, even if it was just Noire and maybe one other child at the time.

Of course, Sumia had already been slightly involved in everything up to that point—she hadn’t been kept up-to-date with everything going on, but she had been told that there was a baby shower happening in the near future and that was something she’d been wanting to be a part of. When the decided date for that came around, the day before Valentine’s Day, it was just as much of a child-filled disaster as that night there at the house had been, complete with even more children than had been there that time. With all the required parents being around, it wasn’t as if Maribelle was being expected to watch everyone this time, and if she had been then people would’ve been handling the occasion incorrectly as she was more or less the most important person there that day. But it wasn’t like Sumia was there for babysitting as well, even though she did have several children that weren’t her own with her as she scurried around the kitchen, putting on a show with all the things she was baking for the occasion.

That poor house was overcrowded with everyone and everything that had been gathered there that day, with nowhere near enough room on existing furniture for everyone to sit, but thanks to some careful planning that had been happening in the months leading up to the event a bunch of extra folding chairs beyond the ones they already had were brought in, as well as a couple large tables. With kids running around underfoot, chasing each other and having a grand time of getting to come play with their friends, and with most of the men trying to stay out of the women’s way by being useful with organizing all the gifts and properly putting together the newly-acquired furniture for the baby, it was a miracle that nothing seemed to be poised to go wrong that day. Every time someone new would come in, bearing gifts and more often than not bringing a child with them, Maribelle would hope and pray that things would stay going just as smoothly as they had been already.

There was going to be enough food for everyone to eat thanks to Sumia and the children she had helping her (which were her own two and Noire), there were places to sit and relax thanks to whoever had decided to rent chairs and tables, and at the end of the night there’d be very little to do in regards to getting things squared away with all of the pairs of hands there working to organize. Everyone who’d shown up seemed happy to be there, especially when they were speaking with Maribelle, and they understood that if they were going to talk to her, they’d be doing it on her terms, not theirs. It did bother her that everyone around her was putting in all this effort for her and her child but she couldn’t do anything to assist any of them, but whenever someone would sit in the chair next to hers and talk excitedly about what was in store for her, she understood that they had her best interests in mind and that she wasn’t burdening anyone by not doing much aside from sitting.

It was mid-afternoon when everyone who was coming was there and everything was more or less ready to get started. Games were played, the wrapped gifts (everything that people had purchased brand new, all hand-me-downs were already put away in the room) were opened and gushed over, and it seemed like all attendees were having a great time there in the warm, crowded living room at the house. “I’m so thankful to have friends like all of you,” Maribelle said at a lull in most of the conversations, looking around at the eyes of everyone who’d looked to her once she started to speak. “Without any of you, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now, I’d be lonely, bored, and sad, I’m sure.”

“Then it’s a good thing you have us, isn’t it?” Grinning as she spoke for everyone else, even though they were all giving their own words of encouragement, Lissa reached towards her friend from her chair, having to lean most of the way over to get a hand brushing against Maribelle’s leg. “We love you and that baby so much, Mari, we really do! If we didn’t, do you think we’d have stuck by you through everything?”

The question was meant to be answered with a solid “no”, but Maribelle found herself wondering if that was what she wanted to say in response after all. To Lissa in specific she could have mentioned that they’d lost their friendship over smaller things before but had managed to make it work, so of course she’d have stuck with her. Looking past her to where Panne was standing against the wall, holding Yarne against her shoulder as he was softly crying about something, she knew that she could’ve told her something about how they’d been friends for a while through some of the worst times in both of their lives, so her staying loyal just made sense. Others in the room were there because of work relationships, whether they were co-workers or past clients, and she’d touched their lives strongly enough that they wanted to be able to do the same for her when she needed it.

“I know that you all love me, I really do,” she finally said, properly looking around at everyone and seeing their positive reactions to what they were hearing. “I just hope that this love and support lasts far beyond right now, when I’m unable to do too much. I expect you all to be by to see me and Br—the baby whenever you get the chance.”

All at once, everyone who’d caught onto the minor slip-up called attention to it, some of them immediately asking her if she’d just tell them what the baby’s name would be (because they knew it was decided either way) while others checked the banner on the wall before asking if she’d changed what she was saying midway through it. With all of their voices coming at her simultaneously, Maribelle didn’t know what she should have done in that moment, and she felt herself getting very, very scared about what was going to happen if she didn’t answer anyone. Noticing that she was looking uncomfortable, and knowing that there was a chance that discomfort wasn’t going to go away just by asking everyone to leave her alone for a bit, Lissa gave a shrill whistle that forced everyone to silence themselves to figure out what had happened. “Okay guys, I know we’re all super excited to know what they might be naming the baby, but we’ve got to give Maribelle her space!”

“I don’t think it’s just space that she needs right now,” Panne added, having come closer when she realized that things were starting to get to be a bit too much to handle. “As much as we should want her to get to spend time with us, I feel that it may be best if we let her move into a quiet room for a few minutes to collect herself. And as she shouldn’t be walking much at all, this means that people better make it up to her for overwhelming her by helping her into her room.”

There was something about how forceful Panne seemed even when she was just giving gentle direction that had people scrambling around to try and follow through with what they’d just been told to do. The obvious response was to go get some of the men from the baby’s room to help out, but adding them into the already-crowded room only fueled Maribelle’s internal panic, even when she saw the faces she trusted most come into her line of vision. Her eyes were blurring as she felt hands grabbing her shoulders, multiple voices asking her if she was okay, but she couldn’t reply to them because she was starting to panic based on how many of them there were.

Even though she wasn’t supposed to be walking around, a fact that had been given as a reminder to everyone who’d been present at the time, the men hadn’t had that refresher to wrap their minds around, it seemed that was the only choice to get her out of the room. Adding in the fact that Maribelle did not seem to be keen on anyone really touching her, as it just added more to her panic, there were three options to take in the moment: one, pick her up and carry her anyway, two, make her walk despite it being a bad idea, and three, make everyone else leave so she could have peace and quiet in her spot. It wasn’t ideal to make her defy her medical restrictions to get her somewhere she needed to be, but right then any other option would be more detrimental in one way or another.

What they were planning for was her to go to the bedroom and have a bit of calming down time in there, then come back and rejoin the celebration when she felt up to it. But once she was to her feet, slowly walking on shaking legs that were showing the effects of her being confined to mostly seated and laying positions, she decided that she didn’t want to go to the bedroom like everyone wanted her to. Despite having people walking alongside her, or at least a couple steps in front of and behind her, she made it as far as the bathroom door before choosing to go inside there rather than to the room, a decision made in such a short amount of time that it actually took as long for her to close the door as it did for someone to fully understand that she’d just locked herself somewhere rather than where she was supposed to go. She didn’t fully understand what she’d done either until she heard knocking on the door, followed by Vaike’s voice calling to her. “Mari, what d’ya think you’re doin’ in there? Get outta there, unless you’re plannin’ t’lay on the floor or somethin’, ya better not be starin’ at your reflection!”

“Please, I’m not that vain,” she replied after she found it within herself to actually say something, her eyes locked on the door and wondering what she should do about it now that she had it firmly closed and no one was getting in on her. “At least if I’m in here I’m completely alone, unlike in the bedroom where all of you would still be swarming me!”

“That doesn’t sound like you’re in there sittin’ down, please just come out so we can get ya where ya should be!” The knocking stopped as soon as she’d said something, but she knew that there were so many people waiting on the other side of the door, hoping she’d open it so they could pull her out and put her where she was intended to go. “Please, we just wanna make things better for ya, and if you’re bein’ difficult it’s so much harder t’do it.”

She took in a deep breath, hand reaching for the door, before a shudder went down her spine that felt more painful than anything else. The oddity of what she’d just felt made her freeze, her arms both moving to wrap around her stomach, and she slowly stumbled backwards until she hit the counter, at which point she sank down, her whole body trembling. Speaking was once again harder than it needed to be, this time because she was growing scared of what was happening, not because she was overwhelmed. “I’m not trying to be difficult, I just don’t want to be around anyone right now. Will…will you please just let me be?”

“That’s why we were tryin’ t’get ya into the room, so that ya were alone and didn’t have anyone else botherin’ ya, and so that ya weren’t hinderin’ anyone else while ya were havin’ quiet time.” His words sounded believable, and Maribelle had faith that he was telling her the truth to the point that she’d started to make an attempt to unlock the door so that she could get back on track. It was as she was trying to uncurl herself from the ball she’d forced her body into that she realized that she couldn’t bring herself to unlock that door, not at the moment. She needed to be alone and to rest for a few minutes right then, and even though there was somewhere better she should have been she wasn’t going to make it there.

The world seemed to slow down to a near-stop as she was huddled there on the floor, her breathing sharp and every inhale causing her heartrate to spike. Something was wrong and she knew it, but the only thought going through her mind at the moment was that she was losing the baby, something she knew was most likely untrue based on how her pain seemed to be radiating from her chest of all places. The voices calling to her out in the hall were drowned out by the sound of her own blood in her ears, her eyes closing tightly shut as she tried to block out everything going on around her. This wasn’t fun, this wasn’t what she should have been going through at her own baby shower, she should have still been out in that chair surrounded by loved ones on all sides, not feeling like she was a stone’s throw from death on the bathroom floor.

It took a while for the feeling to pass her by, but when her panic-induced state disappeared she did find the strength to get up and open the door, only to see that of all the people that had been around when she’d entered, it was only Vaike waiting for her when she exited. “They’re all sittin’ quietly, waitin’ for ya t’get back to ‘em,” he explained, taking her hand carefully when she offered it to him. “That probably means y’should do that, even if you’re not feelin’ quite up for it. Just a little bit longer and they’ll be fine, I think.”

“I’ll spend as much time with them as I want to tonight, thank you very much.” Although she was now letting him lead her back to where she’d come from, Maribelle wasn’t entirely convincing herself that she wanted to spend any time with anyone but the people who lived at the house right then. All it took was seeing her friends’ excited faces when she reentered the room to change her mind, and just like nothing had happened she was right back in the middle of things, with everyone extra mindful of her current space issues.

As the night went on, her social exhaustion was becoming more and more apparent to the people who’d gathered for the party, and they slowly said their goodbyes and headed out for the evening. By the time it was nearing her now-usual time to attempt to sleep, the only people who weren’t residents of the house that were still there were Panne, Lon’qu, and Yarne, and that was only because Lon’qu had gotten wrapped up in some supposedly “urgent” work call that he couldn’t get out of and he didn’t want to leave unexpectedly, despite everyone hearing him repeating that he had no interest in doing what was being asked of him and that he was already busy.

To give him a bit of privacy while he handled that nonsense in the living room, everyone else had moved into one of the other rooms; Gaius had taken Noire into their bedroom so that he could put her to bed before he came out to visit with everyone still there, while Maribelle, Vaike, and Panne (and Yarne as well, although he was asleep and being carried around to not be woken up) were in what definitely looked like a well-stocked baby’s nursery. “The progress you made on this place today alone is amazing,” Panne said as she looked around at the decorated walls, the pictures of nature scenes hanging up amongst star and animal stickers. “It seems you’ve come up with a theme that works regardless of what the child is that isn’t just a simple jungle animal theme. I must say, I love it.”

“It was all my idea, I had more than enough time to think about how I wanted this room to look and I’m just lucky at least someone knew how to translate my thoughts to reality.” Also looking around, as it was the first time she’d been in there since any decorating had started, Maribelle felt a sense of happiness flooding her body at how perfect everything looked at the moment. “While I’m saddened that we couldn’t use a cuter color, I suppose that purple is a more positive gender-neutral alternative than some other colors.”

“It comes in many different shades, I’ll give you that.” Walking around to look closer at some of the things on the walls, which included custom-made shelves that were holding toys donated to them by people who didn’t need them any longer, just as keepsakes, Panne actually smiled when she got to what furniture wasn’t specially made for the room, in specific the dresser that still had its drawers open. “You also have a varied selection of clothes for the child to wear, which is more helpful than you realize. They go through so much when they’re so little, it ends up being exhausting keeping them clean.”

Because he was the one who’d been in charge of putting the clothes away, Vaike was in the middle of making some comment about how what was visible wasn’t even everything they had when Maribelle softly muttered something about how something wasn’t right. It wasn’t the same bad feeling she’d experienced in the bathroom, when she’d started having some sort of panic attack over too many voices at once, but rather an odd sort of feeling that she couldn’t fully explain. Her eyes were quickly darting around as she searched for how to explain what was happening, something that her husband picked up on as he looked at her. “As much as I’d love t’keep talkin’ ‘bout what everyone’s given t’us that we can’t even put out, we need t’discuss what’s goin’ on with Mari right now.”

“She’s standing when she has no reason to be, that’s what’s going on.” Without giving her the same glance to assess the situation, Panne was continuing on with looking around the nursery, keeping her voice quiet as she didn’t want to wake her child unnecessarily. “She should be sitting down, you have enough chairs in here for her to do so in that I don’t understand why she—”

“Can you stop for a second?” Cutting her friend off completely as something clicked in her mind, Maribelle shifted how she was standing, letting her legs move against each other as she did so, and the darting eyes turned into widened, concerned ones. “Okay, yeah, one of two things just happened and we better hope it’s the more embarrassing of the possibilities, because I…don’t think the other one should be happening right now.” There was a pause as both of the others looked at her, trying to understand what it was she was referring to, but she went ahead and spelled it out as to prevent them from wasting too much time. “It’s not normal for someone’s water to break so far from when they’re due, right?”

She was right, it wasn’t normal, and just mentioning that as a possibility for what had happened was enough to put a firm stop to anything else happening there at the moment. Without any hesitation, Panne left the room and went to the other occupied bedroom, warning Gaius that she was leaving her son there and that if he started crying he’d have to be the one to fix things, unless Lon’qu finally got off the phone. After an arrangement was made there, that put an end to them being at the house, and even though she didn’t need to go with them she made sure that she was the one driving them over to the hospital, just because she was hopeful it was some sort of false alarm.

The bad news was that it wasn’t technically a false alarm at all, and that Maribelle’s water had broken way earlier than it should have, but the good news was that it didn’t seem to be indicating that she was in any sort of active labor. In fact, it seemed to just have been a completely random occurrence, but one with some rather serious consequences that would have to be factored into how they proceeded. What ended up happening was an overnight stay there at the hospital, just to monitor and make sure everything was as it should be even with the slight action, and after she was cleared to go home and do absolutely nothing at all while she was there, that was exactly what they went and had her do. The bed became her best friend, where she rested and spent nearly every hour of the following days, anything that was happening around her having to come to her there rather than her move out to the living room to be part of the action.

What had been theorized was that, based on what tests they’d done while she’d been admitted, as long as she didn’t do anything she could make it a few more weeks and get closer to the “safe” area where delivering the baby wouldn’t be so much of a gamble. That wasn’t meant to be the case, as it was just over a week later that she was back again, this time actually starting to show signs of being in labor that she hadn’t been before. At that point, there were still options they could play with before making a drastic decision to bring the child into the world, and there was going to be no rest until those options had all been visited and exhausted.

For an entire week after those first legitimate contractions that felt like they were going to rip her in half, Maribelle was forced through every possible idea the doctors had in order to keep her and the baby both healthy and living. After spending that whole week being stuck with a multitude of needles to deliver all sorts of different medications, starting with ones meant to stop the labor and prevent it for as long as possible and slowly moving towards ones geared to preparing the child for early delivery, she was ready for something to change to get her out of that place and back to living the life she’d been leading up to that point. When she’d wanted to have a child and start a family oh-so-long ago, she’d never thought that it would be this miserable of an experience, and she regretted ever making this something she wanted for herself.

Once the logical options were all tried to varying levels of success and the medical staff thought they may have gotten the upper hand on what was happening, everything fell apart and there were moments where they genuinely believed that they’d lost the child that they were trying so hard to save. A decision had to be made, to keep trying to lengthen its time in the womb where it was actively dying, in hopes that whatever had gone wrong would reverse itself, or to go through with birthing it and hoping that it was strong enough to survive with medical intervention on the outside. That decision was _not_ made with the consent of either parent involved, something that they weren’t even aware of—how would they have been able to say anything when one of them was so heavily drugged that she couldn’t consent to anything, and the other wasn’t in the room due to outside circumstances as well as the emergency nature of it all, and taking the time to step out and find him would’ve been a waste of precious seconds.

What ended up happening was them finding out the decision that had been made together, some time after everything was said and done. Her mind still foggy from the combination of being sedated and all of the stress she’d endured before the sedation had ever started, Maribelle had first noticed something was different when the sounds in her room had a different tone to them. There were pings and beeps missing, noises that she’d grown used to in the week she’d been trapped there in that bed, but as much as she wanted to look around to see what had changed she was stuck exactly where she was, most of her body numb and her brain trying to play catch-up with everything. He wasn’t as keen to the changes as she was, yet Vaike also could tell something had been altered in the room between the last time they’d both been in there and the current moment, but he was just as clueless as to what it was as she was.

Thankfully they were given their answer to what had happened within a few minutes of them both being back in the same room, while they were talking about what had happened as far as they both knew it to be. The nurse who came inside had a cheerful disposition and seemed happy to be there visiting with them, which gave an air of something being very wrong about the situation. “I’m not sure why you’re smiling at us like that,” Maribelle grumbled after the nurse finished what she seemed to have come into the room for. “I don’t really know what was going on earlier today, and if you’re staring at us like that I don’t think you’re going to say a word.”

“The fact that you’re awake and speaking with us is a testament to the miracles the doctors here perform on a daily basis,” the nurse replied, fiddling with an IV bag that seemed to be running low on solution. “Of course, the fact that you were awake and speaking with them when you shouldn’t have been is also a miracle, but they didn’t have the time to fully get you under I suppose, and it ended up okay for everyone.”

“That’s what neither ‘a us know anythin’ about, why she was drugged like that in the first place. I left for half an hour, tops, and came back t’her not even bein’ in here for hours!” Wringing his hands in front of him as he gave the nurse the most begging look he could manage in the moment, Vaike wasn’t sure what it was he was expecting to get as an answer from that question. It certainly wasn’t a story of how, in the time he’d gone back to the house to change what he was wearing for the first time in a week, all hell had broken loose and every meter that was hooked up to the woman he so dearly loved started giving readings that spelled certain doom for at least one person involved, but that was what the answer turned into, and he was surprised to hear it.

Maribelle was _more_ surprised to hear it, though, and if she had been able to move more than just her head comfortably in that moment she might have reached out to try strangling the nurse. “You put all sorts of drugs into my system to save me without asking me if it was okay first? I could sue you for that, I’ll have you know!”

“Trust me, the doctors would have gotten your consent if it were possible, but you were so far from a solid state of mind that anything you said wouldn’t have been legally binding. They made the best call for you and for your child, and if it wasn’t for their quick thinking, neither of you would still be alive.” As she continued to smile, the nurse tilted her head to one side and winked, breaking professional behavior for a moment to do so. “They also adhered to the one thing you kept insisting, despite being completely out of your mind, so you can take solace in that fact.”

“What was I insisting? I don’t remember a thing about it, the last thing I recall before getting brought back in here from somewhere else was an exam that happened in this very room.” Her eyelids were starting to feel heavy out of nowhere, as if she’d finally been hit with the sedation they’d tried using on her, but Maribelle was not going to sleep until she knew what had happened to her. “Please, I’ll take back the threat of suing if you’ll tell me.”

The nurse pursed her lips together before nodding, seemingly accepting the bargain. “You kept saying, in the most unnerving voice any of us have heard come from a woman in your situation, ‘wait until the twenty-ninth, we have to wait until the twenty-ninth’. None of us knew why that was and we couldn’t ask you why, but we…but they…you’re lucky that once you weren’t in pain they could prolong the inevitable until something had to be done.”

“But ain’t today the twenty-ninth?” Vaike asked, vaguely recalling what the last calendar he’d seen said it was. Time didn’t have too much meaning while they were there at the hospital, but that half-hour of being outside had given him some clarity on what was going on around him. “I left last night so I could come back just before they cut off any more visitors comin’ up here, and it’s gotta have been more than—”

“Adrenaline’s just as powerful of a drug as anything we were using to medicate her is, you’ve been running on no sleep because of how much fear you’ve been allowing into your mind.” Stepping towards the door, the nurse gave a polite bow before making her leave. “I’m sorry I can’t say much more than this, you’re quite an interesting couple, I hope I can tell you more when I’m back later!”

“She didn’t tell us a single thing about what happened,” Maribelle summarized once the door was closed on them inside the room. “I’m more confused than I was before she came in and started spewing all her nonsense, I’m afraid, and I’m about to start paging nurses to come in here until I get my answers.”

“There’s gotta be a reason for her doin’ that, Mari, we just haveta believe that she’s not hidin’ somethin’ from us.” While Vaike was honestly down for what he’d just heard being suggested, he didn’t want to rush into any bad decisions that they’d have to suffer consequences with. “We’ll get our answers next time someone comes by t’check on ya, I’m sure of it.”

Waiting for those real answers was almost as painful as some of the things that she’d had to endure in the week she’d been stuck in that room, but when she was able to get them it felt all worth it. What the nurse had neglected to mention before that not a single one of the readings that had dropped to fatal levels had been Maribelle’s, but rather ones that were tracking the child’s status, and the decision that had been made was done with the sole purpose of saving that innocent life. The goal of making it to the twenty-ninth had, miraculously, been achieved, but only barely, and it was by no means a good thing that they’d scraped by to get there.

Even with the fact that it wasn’t a positive that the goal had been hit and not a day further, the big, important thing about the situation was that they were parents. Somewhere in the same building they were in, there was a child that shared a blend of their genes, probably looking like one or both of them, most likely intubated beyond belief and staying alive through machines and medicine. There’d come a time where they’d get to see that child, spend time with them, love on them, and eventually get to take them out of there to start their lives as a family. When that time would be, no one could actually say, but everyone had high hopes for it happening at some point in the relatively near future.

The one small issue was that everyone seemed to be very keen on keeping the child’s gender a secret, always referring to them in neutral terms as if the decision to not know had been consciously made. There was still a positive side to that, however, and it came that evening, when they were given the clearance to meet the little one for the first time. Both dressed entirely in scrubs to be as clean as possible, they had been told that for safety reasons that they’d have to go into the sterile room where the child was being kept to meet with them; yet when it became clear that moving them in there would be difficult, as Maribelle was still having reactions to what she’d been medicated with and couldn’t fully move her body, a decision was made to make an exception for them, and a middle-ground room was picked that had enough space for a full bed as well as the whole incubation box the baby was currently living in.

To see the child so small and so dependent on machines to stay alive was heart-wrenching, but to know that there was almost no chance of anything else going wrong to prevent them from living did make it a bit easier for that first meeting. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room after the doctors present maneuvered everything to allow for Maribelle to reach out and rest her hand on the child’s chest, only for her to start bawling at the feeling of her baby’s skin under her fingertips. That was only amplified when she pulled away and it was Vaike’s turn to do the same, and when he started to get emotional about what was happening that was the last straw for all of the witnesses.

What happened there in that room felt like it lasted an eternity but ended just as quickly as it started, and when they were escorted back to their actual room both of them wished they could go back until the door to their room was opened and the sound of cheering came from inside. “There’s a two visitor limit up here for you right now, so we all fought over who got to come and who had to go home and play babysitter,” Lissa explained as she and Panne waited against the wall in the room as the bed was put back into place. “I didn’t think anything could be serious enough to need a limit but looking at you, I can totally understand why they did that.”

“They refused to allow us to bring anything up with us, and despite us both having clearance badges they required us to have paper tags,” Panne added, pointing to the visitor tag she had attached to her shirt. “We could have fought that requirement but we did not want to get escorted out and be unable to visit today, especially since it seems that…”

Both ladies seemed to be looking at an empty spot in the room, where before there had been a few machines that had been fetal health trackers of some sort. “Oh, don’t worry, if you’re worried that something bad happened to her, you can—” The shrillest of screams came out of Lissa’s mouth to cut what Maribelle was saying off, while Panne looked pleasantly surprised to have heard what was just said. “—I suppose I should have prefaced what I was saying with that fact, shouldn’t I have? We were actually just meeting her for the first time while we weren’t in here, that’s why the room was empty when you arrived.”

“That’s so exciting! Gods, here we were expecting the worst when they made us put first and last name, no nicknames, on our nametags, and yet it’s actually the best!” Bouncing where she stood, Lissa pulled her hands in close to her chest and took a few deep breaths before she continued trying to speak. “So now’s when you’re gonna tell us what you’re naming her, right? Ri-i-ight?”

Straightening up where she stood, as she felt she knew what was about to be said, Panne was clearly trying to restrain herself from saying anything potentially offensive or rude. “I think we can make our guesses as to what it may be, can’t we?” she asked, glancing not at Maribelle as she spoke but rather at Vaike, who hadn’t been listening until he’d heard the name question get asked. “After all, a certain someone’s been made to appreciate his name a bit more for this moment, if I’m not mistaken.”

It was obvious that Panne was trying to bait him into being the one that responded, but a memory hit Maribelle in that moment and she felt compelled to reenact it right then, especially as she remembered what else had been said that same night. “It’ll be a-y, e-e, that’s how we’ll be spelling it,” she told the two in the room who were waiting for that exact answer. “I never thought I’d want to name a child directly after one of us, but given everything that happened and the mystery of it all, it just felt right to let them be named after their father, no matter what.”

“And hopefully she’ll enjoy her name spelled the way it is more than I ever enjoyed mine, but if she doesn’t I ain’t gonna worry ‘bout it.” While Maribelle had just admitted that she’d never thought about doing this with a name, Vaike had never legitimately considered the possibility that he’d need to name a child after himself, period. It wasn’t conventional for a girl to get her father’s name, but he believed in Maribelle and her mindset that naming their daughter Braydee would work out for them in the end.

This girl, born on Leap Day, conceived in the immediate aftermath of seven whole years of unfortunate happenings, would either have inherited the horrible luck her parents had been forced to endure since their wedding day, or she’d become a beacon of light and luck in their lives. It was a coin flip either way, and only time was going to tell them the outcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and just like that, it's finished? this story has been my baby for a very long time and I'm equal parts happy and sad to see it go. especially since there was a whole ending I decided against using here, for the sake of having a more open-ended finish to the story.


End file.
